Research Publications (Food Safety)

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the causative agent of hepatitis E. Some of the rise in hepatitis E infection in China may be linked to undercooked pork. In this study, we established a reverse transcription droplet digital PCR (RT-ddPCR) method to detect HEV in raw pork livers. The detection limit of the assay for HEV RNA was as low as 1.81 copies/μL.

Enteric viruses are common waterborne pathogens found in environmental water bodies contaminated with either raw or partially treated sewage discharge. Examples of these viruses include adenovirus, rotavirus, noroviruses, and other caliciviruses and enteroviruses like coxsackievirus and polioviruses.

Bacterial biofilms contribute to contamination, spoilage, persistence, and hygiene failure in the food industry, but relatively little is known about the behavior of foodborne viruses evolving in the complex communities that make up biofilm. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between enteric viruses and biofilms on food contact surfaces.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is responsible for acute hepatitis in humans, through foodborne, zoonotic, and waterborne transmission routes. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of HEV in water matrices. Six categories were defined: untreated and treated wastewater, surface water (river, lake, and seawater), drinking water, groundwater, and other water environments (irrigation water, grey water, reservoir water, flood water, and effluent of pig slaughterhouse).

Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. Infection with hepatitis E virus (HEV) is common in both developing and industrialized nations. Genotypes 3 and 4 are increasingly being reported, particularly in high-income countries where the precise extent of HEV transmission via food is currently unclear.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Ahead of Print. Commonly used surface sanitizers often lack activity against human noroviruses (hNoVs). The impact of inactivation versus removal when these products are applied via wiping is poorly characterized.

Virucidal suspension testing is commonly used as an authorized test for disinfectants. However, this method could not precisely evaluate the effect of disinfectants on food-contact surfaces. To solve this problem, a carrier testing method needs to be established in the food-processing industries by following a standard guideline.

Berries are important vehicles for norovirus (NoV) and hepatitis A virus (HAV) foodborne outbreaks. Sensitive and quantitative detection of these viruses in food samples currently relies on RT-qPCR, but remains challenging due to their low concentration and the presence of RT-qPCR inhibitors. Moreover, quantification requires a standard curve.

Journal of Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. Aims Norovirus remains the most significant virological risk that is transmitted via food and the environment to cause acute gastroenteritis.

To investigate the prevalence of avian hepatitis E virus (HEV) in chickens and gather evidence of viral vertical transmission, we collected 288 cloacal swabs and 288 yolks samples from 12 farms with clinically healthy chickens in 4 different areas in Tai'an City, Shandong Province, China (i.e., Daiyue District, Xintai City, Feicheng City, and Ningyang County).

by Xupeng Hong, Stephan Menne, Jianming Hu Hepadnaviruses use extensively overlapping genes to expand their coding capacity, especially the precore/core genes encode the precore and core proteins with mostly identical sequences but distinct functions. The precore protein of the woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) is N-glycosylated, in contrast to the precore of the human hepatitis B virus (HBV) that lacks N-glycosylation.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a substantial public health burden worldwide. Alpha-interferon (IFNα) is one of the two currently approved therapies for chronic hepatitis B (CHB), to explore the mechanisms underlying IFNα treatment response, we investigated baseline and 24-week on-treatment intrahepatic gene expression profiles in 21 CHB patients by mRNA-seq. The data analyses demonstrated that PegIFNα treatment significantly induced antiviral responses.

Globally, hepatitis A virus (HAV) is one of the most common agents of acute viral hepatitis and causes approximately 1.4 million cases and 90,000 deaths annually despite the existence of an effective vaccine. In 2019, federal, state, and local partners investigated a multi-state outbreak of HAV infections linked to fresh blackberries sourced from multiple suppliers in Michoacán, Mexico.

RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) is a unique and highly conserved enzyme across all members of the RNA virus superfamilies. Besides, humans do not have a homolog of this protein. Therefore, the RdRp is an attractive target for a broadly effective therapeutic agent against RNA viruses.

Water is a vital resource to every living thing on the earth. Once the water is contaminated (physically, chemically, biologically, or radiologically), it brought negative impacts to the living thing. This paper provides a brief review of the characterization of biological pollutants in drinking water and their effects on human health.

Between 2016 and 2021, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) collected 4218 samples of fresh and frozen berries (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and mixed berries) and pomegranate arils at retail across 11 major cities in Canada and tested these samples for the presence of norovirus GI, norovirus GII and hepatitis A virus RNA.

Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 4, Page 1872-1879, July 2022. Noroviruses belong to a genetically diverse group of viruses infecting a wide range of mammalian host species, and those detected in cattle and sheep are classified within genogroup III (GIII).

Zoonotic hepatitis E virus (HEV) is endemic in Europe. Genotype 3 (HEV-3) is predominant but information on subtype distribution, trends and clinical implications in Germany is scarce. We analysed 936 HEV RNA positive samples of human origin and corresponding national surveillance data from 2010 to 2019. Samples were referred to the National Consultant Laboratory and sequenced in at least one of four genomic regions.

Hepatitis E is caused by hepatitis E virus (HEV), one of the causes of acute viral hepatitis. Domestic pigs are considered as the main reservoir of HEV-3. The recently reported high prevalence of HEV in liver- and meat products on the Dutch market warranted a cross-sectional prevalence study on HEV infection among 5–6 months old pigs slaughtered in the Netherlands (n = 250).

The fucosyltransferase 2 gene (FUT2) mediates the synthesis of histoblood group antigens (HBGA) that occur in vivo from multiple organs, particularly on the surface of intestinal epithelial cells and body fluids. To date, many studies have demonstrated that the interaction of HBGA with the host microbiota is the cause of pathogenesis of intestinal diseases, making FUT2 non-secretor a risk factor for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) due to the lack of HBGA.

by Haley N. Cartwright, Dominique J. Barbeau, Joshua D. Doyle, Ed Klein, Mark T. Heise, Martin T. Ferris, Anita K. McElroy Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an arboviral disease of humans and livestock responsible for severe economic and human health impacts. In humans, RVF spans a variety of clinical manifestations, ranging from an acute flu-like illness to severe forms of disease, including late-onset encephalitis.

The nomenclature of duck viral hepatitis (DVH) was historically not a problem. However, fourteen hepatotropic viruses among ten different genera are associated with the same disease name, DVH. Therefore, the disease name increasingly lacks clarity and may no longer fit the scientific description of the disease. Because one disease should not be attributed to ten genera of viruses, this almost certainly causes misunderstanding regarding the disease-virus relationship.

Journal of Basic Microbiology, EarlyView. Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an important zoonotic pathogen infecting a wide range of host species. It has a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA genome encoding three open reading frames (ORFs). Synonymous codon usages of viruses essentially determine their survival and adaptation to susceptible hosts.

Share tables (ST) allow students to share unwanted food items with other students in school cafeterias, making them a possible method to reduce food waste and insecurity. This study assesses potential food safety risks and food security benefits of a ST system, to assess if future work on STs is warranted. But food safety concerns from stakeholders hinder ST implementation.

At present, noninvasive fibrosis markers are not available for the assessment of liver fibrosis in children with chronic hepatitis C. Sixty-three children with chronic hepatitis C were included. Changes in Wisteria floribunda agglutinin-positive Mac-2 binding protein (M2BPGi) levels were evaluated in l3 of 27 treatment-naive patients during the natural course of disease (median 4, range 3–6 years).