An outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by norovirus-contaminated groundwater at a waterpark in Korea

In January 2008, an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis at a waterpark was reported to the Bundang-gu Public Health Center in Seongnam, Korea. To determine the etiological agent and mode of transmission, a retrospective cohort study was done using structured questionnaires and stool samples from patie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Korean medical science 2011, 26(1), 147, pp.28-32
Main Authors: Koh, Seong-Joon, Cho, Han Gil, Kim, Bo Hyun, Choi, Bo Youl
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Caliciviridae Infections - epidemiology
Caliciviridae Infections - virology
Child
Cohort Studies
Disease Outbreaks
Feces - virology
Female
Fresh Water - virology
Gastroenteritis - epidemiology
Gastroenteritis - virology
Genotype
Humans
Male
Norovirus - classification
Norovirus - genetics
Norovirus - isolation & purification
Original
Phylogeny
Republic of Korea
Retrospective Studies
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
Sequence Analysis, RNA
의학일반
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Summary:In January 2008, an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis at a waterpark was reported to the Bundang-gu Public Health Center in Seongnam, Korea. To determine the etiological agent and mode of transmission, a retrospective cohort study was done using structured questionnaires and stool samples from patients who had current gastrointestinal symptoms and three food handlers were tested. A total of 67 (31.0%) students and teachers developed acute gastroenteritis. No food items were associated with an increased risk of the illness. Norovirus was detected in 3 stool specimens collected from 6 patients who had severe diarrhea using semi-nested RT-PCR. All the specimens contained the genogroup I strains of the norovirus. Norovirus was also detected in the groundwater samples from the waterpark. In the nucleotide sequencing analysis, all the genogroup I noroviruses from the patients and groundwater samples were identified as the norovirus genotype I-4 strain. They were indistinguishable by DNA sequencing with a 97% homology. We conclude the outbreak of acute gastroenteritis caused by the norovirus was closely related to the contaminated groundwater.
ISSN:1011-8934
1598-6357
DOI:10.3346/jkms.2011.26.1.28