Research Publications (Food Safety)

Publication date: 15 October 2015
, Volume 211
Author(s): Shin Young Park, An-Na Kim, Ki-Hoon Lee, Sang-Do Ha

In May 2013, Italy declared a national outbreak of hepatitis A, which also affected several foreign tourists who had recently visited the country. Molecular investigations identified some cases as infected with an identical strain of hepatitis A virus subgenotype IA.

We collected 599 Canadian retail pork chops and 283 pork livers routinely (usually weekly) from April 2011 to March 2012 using the Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (CIPARS) retail sampling platform. Samples were assayed using validated real-time (q) reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and nested classical RT-PCR for the detection of hepatitis E virus (HEV), porcine enteric calicivirus (PEC) and rotavirus (RV).

Aims
Epidemiological evidence suggests that hepatitis A virus (HAV) is the most common pathogen transmitted by bivalve mollusks such as clams, cockles, mussels, and oysters. This study aimed to generate thermal inactivation kinetics for HAV as a first step to design adequate thermal processes to control clam-associated HAV outbreaks.

Background. Hepatitis A vaccines are highly immunogenic in healthy patients, but there is uncertainty about their immunogenicity in immunocompromised patients.

Publication date: December 2015
, Volume 52
Author(s): Snehal S. Joshi , Xiaowei Su , Doris H. D'Souza

Background. In recent years, few US adults have had exposure and resultant immunity to hepatitis A virus (HAV). Further, persons with liver disease have an increased risk of adverse consequences if they are infected with HAV.

Methods. This study used 1999–2011 National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System and Multiple Cause of Death data to assess trends in the incidence of HAV infection, HAV-related hospitalization, and HAV-related mortality.

Since 2010, reports of infection with hepatitis E virus (HEV) have increased in England and Wales. Despite mounting evidence regarding the zoonotic potential of porcine HEV, there are limited data on its prevalence in pigs in the United Kingdom. We investigated antibody prevalence, active infection, and virus variation in serum and cecal content samples from 629 pigs at slaughter.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) has emerged during the past decade as a causative agent of autochthonous hepatitis and is a clinical concern in Western developed countries. It has been increasingly recognized that pigs are a major reservoir of HEV of genotypes 3 and 4 worldwide and pig-derived food items represent a potential source of infections by these viruses in humans.

Human noroviruses (HNoV) and hepatitis A virus (HAV) have been implicated in outbreaks linked to the consumption of presliced ready-to-eat deli meats. The objectives of this research were to determine the thermal inactivation kinetics of HNoV surrogates (murine norovirus 1 [MNV-1] and feline calicivirus strain F9 [FCV-F9]) and HAV in turkey deli meat, compare first-order and Weibull models to describe the data, and calculate Arrhenius activation energy values for each model.

Publication date: 1 September 2015
, Volume 221
Author(s): S. Černi , J. Prpić , L. Jemeršić , D. Škorić

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of reported hepatitis E virus (HEV) infections from developed countries. To describe recent trends in notification and potential risk groups and risk factors in Japan, HEV infection cases and demographic, food consumption, clinical and laboratory data reported during 2007-2013 were analyzed. A total of 530 HEV infections was reported during 2007-2013.

Ko, Sang-Mu et al. Outbreaks of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infections are most frequently associated with the consumption of contaminated oysters. A rapid and selective concentration method is necessary for the recovery of HAV from contaminated oysters prior to detection using PCR.

This perspective on hepatitis A in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) presents epidemiological data on new cases and outbreaks and vaccination policies. Hepatitis A endemicity in the EU/EEA ranges from very low to intermediate with a decline in notification rates in recent decades. Vaccination uptake has been insufficient to compensate for the increasing number of susceptible individuals. Large outbreaks occur.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) genotype 3 is endemic in Europe and hyperendemic in southern France. Recent reports of a high prevalence of HEV RNA in blood donations and in culinary specialties from this geographical area confirmed the endemicity of HEV and sources of viral transmission in this geographical area. HEV causes acute and chronic hepatitis in solid organ transplant recipients.

Publication date: Available online 27 March 2015

Author(s): Ahmed M. Erfan , Abdullah A. Selim , Mohamed K. Morsi , Soad A. Nasef , E.M. Abdelwhab

Publication date: 2 June 2015
, Volume 202
Author(s): Catherine Hennechart-Collette , Sandra Martin-Latil , Laurent Guillier , Sylvie Perelle

Publication date: 18 May 2015
, Volume 201
Author(s): Coralie Coudray-Meunier , Audrey Fraisse , Sandra Martin-Latil , Laurent Guillier , Sabine Delannoy , Patrick Fach , Sylvie Perelle

Millions of people suffer from foodborne diseases throughout the world every year, and the importance of food safety has grown worldwide in recent years. The aim of this study was to investigate the survival of hepatitis A virus (HAV) and viral surrogates of human norovirus (HuNoV) (bacteriophage MS2 and murine norovirus [MNV]) in food over time.

Publication date: 18 May 2015
, Volume 201
Author(s): L. Moreno , R. Aznar , G. Sánchez

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a serious public health problem. The commonly used tests that are specific for current HEV infection diagnosis include the detection of anti-HEV IgM and HEV RNA. Here, we report an improved enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method for HEV antigen detection with a linear range equivalent to 6.3 x 103 to 9.2 x 105 RNA copies per ml.

Data on long-term impact of universal national vaccination programmes against hepatitis A are lacking. We aimed at evaluating the impact on hepatitis A incidence of the Israeli toddlers-only universal routine two-dose vaccination programme against hepatitis A initiated in 1999. All hepatitis A episodes reported to the national surveillance system from 1993 to 2012 were analysed in relation to the vaccination programme and coverage.

Background. The HIVCOBOC-RGT study (NCT01925183) was the first study to evaluate response-guided shortening of the duration of boceprevir (BOC)-based triple therapy in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/hepatitis C virus genotype 1-coinfected patients (HIV/HCV-GT1).

A multistate outbreak of hepatitis A virus (HAV) among European travellers returning from Egypt occurred between November 2012 and April 2013. A total of 14 European Union (EU)-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries reported 107 cases. Twenty-one cases from six countries were affected by strains of sub-genotype IB harbouring identical RNA sequences, suggesting a common source outbreak.

Publication date: 2 April 2015
, Volume 198
Author(s): Martijn Bouwknegt , Katharina Verhaelen , Artur Rzeżutka , Iwona Kozyra , Leena Maunula , Carl-Henrik von Bonsdorff , Apostolos Vantarakis , Petros Kokkinos , Tamas Petrovic , Sava Lazic , Ivo Pavlik , Petra Vasickova , Kris A. Willems , Arie H. Havelaar , Saskia A. Rutjes , Ana Maria de Roda Husman