Research Publications (Food Safety)

Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, and restaurants are the most common setting of foodborne norovirus outbreaks. Therefore, prevention and control of restaurant-related foodborne norovirus outbreaks is critical to lowering the burden of foodborne illness in the United States.

Foodborne viral contamination of fresh produce has been associated with numerous outbreaks. Detection of such contaminated foods is important for protecting public health. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the capability of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Enteric Viruses tiling microarray (FDA-EVIR) for rapid molecular identification of hepatitis A virus (HAV) and human norovirus (NoV) extracted from artificially inoculated fresh produce.

Background Noroviruses are the major cause of viral gastroenteritis. Disease transmission is difficult to prevent and outbreaks in health-care facilities commonly occur. Contact with infected persons and contaminated environments are believed to be the main routes of transmission. However, noroviruses have recently been found in aerosols and airborne transmission has been suggested.

In households with young family members in a setting without rotavirus vaccination, norovirus is the dominant acute gastroenteritis pathogen, but rotavirus is associated with more severe disease. There was substantial within-household transmission, both symptomatic and asymptomatic. The study provides key quantities on transmission, which can inform vaccine policy decisions and act as a baseline for impact evaluations in high-income settings.

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

Here, we report the near-complete genome sequence of swine norovirus strain SwNoV/Sw1/2018/JP. The genome was genetically similar (90.2%) to that of the only other swine norovirus strain previously detected in Japan (SW/NV/swine43/JP). In conclusion, genome sequences of swine noroviruses in Japan have not been changed significantly in the past 15 years.

by Vincent R. Graziano, Forrest C. Walker, Elizabeth A. Kennedy, Jin Wei, Khalil Ettayebi, Madison S. Strine, Renata B. Filler, Ebrahim Hassan, Leon L. Hsieh, Arthur S. Kim, Abimbola O. Kolawole, Christiane E. Wobus, Lisa C. Lindesmith, Ralph S. Baric, Mary K. Estes, Robert C. Orchard, Megan T. Baldridge, Craig B. Wilen

Author(s): Mohan Amarasiri, Etsuko Utagawa, Daisuke Sano, Kazuhiko Katayama

Author(s): Seung Hoon Baek, Chan Yeong Park, Thang Phan Nguyen, Min Woo Kim, Jong Pil Park, Changsun Choi, Soo Young Kim, Suresh Kumar Kailasa, Tae Jung Park

Author(s): Sofia Strubbia, Julien Schaeffer, Alban Besnard, Candice Wacrenier, Cécile Le Mennec, Pascal Garry, Marion Desdouits, Françoise S. Le Guyader

Author(s): Carina Pacheco Cantelli, Tulio Machado Fumian, Fábio Correia Malta, Denise Cotrim da Cunha, Patricia Brasil, Johan Nordgren, Lennart Svensson, Marize Pereira Miagostovich, Marcia Terezinha Baroni de Moraes, José Paulo Gagliardi Leite

The availability of drinking water is one of the main determinants of quality of life, disease prevention and the promotion of health. Viruses are important agents of waterborne diseases and have been described as important markers of human faecal contamination. This study aimed to investigate viruses’ presence as an indicator of drinking water quality in low-income communities in the Manguinhos area, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Human noroviruses (NVs) are the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis outbreaks worldwide. The majority of outbreaks are caused by genogroup II.4 (GII.4), with new variants emerging every 2 to 4 years. Immunocompromised patients are hypothesized to be important reservoirs where new NV variants emerge. Here, we examined intra-host NV variants and assessed immune-driven NV evolution in chronically infected immunocompromised hosts.

Human noroviruses are the major cause of non-bacterial acute gastroenteritis worldwide. Since no therapeutic agent has been proven to prevent human norovirus infection yet, preventive healthcare interventions to block the infection routes play an important role in infection control. One of the possible infection routes of human noroviruses are through contaminated hands, but no hand antiseptics have been proven effective.

Author(s): Yingyin Liao, Liang Xue, Junshan Gao, Aiwu Wu, Xiaoxia Kou

Abstract

Background

Norovirus is responsible for the viral gastroenteritis burden worldwide. Histo-blood type antigens (HBGAs) are the only well-known factor regarding their effect on the pathogenesis of norovirus. Here, we performed the study to further investigate the association of the ABO blood group with norovirus susceptibility.

The U.S. FDA Food Safety Modernization Act Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule emphasizes the importance of an effective environmental monitoring (EM) program. This study aims to characterize polyurethane foam (PUF) EM tools—currently used in the food industry for the recovery of bacteria from food contact surfaces—for their efficacy in the release and recovery of human enteric viruses.

Author(s): Mayuri Patwardhan, Mark T. Morgan, Vermont Dia, Doris H. D’Souza

Norovirus constitutes the most frequently identified infectious cause of disease outbreaks associated with untreated recreational water. When investigating outbreaks related to surface water, a One Health approach is insightful. Historically, there has been a focus on potential contamination of recreational water by bird droppings and a recent publication demonstrating human noroviruses in bird faeces suggested this should be investigated in future water‐related norovirus outbreaks.

M. Jin et al. CaliciNet China, a network of provincial, county, and city laboratories coordinated by the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was launched in October 2016 to monitor the epidemiology and genotype distribution of norovirus outbreaks in China. During October 2016–September 2018, a total of 556 norovirus outbreaks were reported, and positive fecal samples from 470 (84.5%) outbreaks were genotyped.

Enteric viruses are shed in fecal material by humans and other animals and are common contaminants in wastewater and surface water. Wastewater treatment plants often disinfect this effluent with low-pressure and medium-pressure UV lamps, which emit 254-nm and 220- to 280-nm irradiation, respectively. It is not known whether this treatment is efficacious against enteric viruses or how such treatments may inactivate these enteric viruses.

Background Chronic norovirus infection in immunocompromised patients can be severe, and presently there is no effective treatment. Adoptive transfer of virus-specific T cells has proven to be safe and effective for the treatment of many viral infections, and this could represent a novel treatment approach for chronic norovirus infection. Hence, we sought to generate human norovirus-specific T cells (NSTs) that can recognize different viral sequences.

A human norovirus (HuNoV) strain was obtained from a patient with acute gastroenteritis, and its complete coding sequence was determined. The coding-complete viral genome, with three open reading frames, was 7,565 bp long, with a GC content of 49.9%. The genotype of the HuNoV strain obtained in this study was identified as GII.p12_GII.3.

Seaweed is a source of protein that can help overcome the anticipated challenges of a growing world population and the current challenges for finding alternatives for animal proteins in the Western diet. Thus far, data on the safety of seaweed for feed and food purposes in the Western world are scattered.

Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) cause sporadic and epidemic outbreaks of gastroenteritis in all age groups worldwide. We previously reported that stem cell-derived human intestinal enteroid (HIE) cultures support replication of multiple HuNoV strains and that some strains (e.g., GII.3) replicate only in the presence of bile. Heat- and trypsin-treatment of bile...