Reported foodborne outbreaks due to noroviruses in Belgium: the link between food and patient investigations in an international context

The Belgian data for foodborne norovirus (NoV) outbreaks became available for the first time with the introduction of an extraction and detection protocol for NoV in the National Reference Laboratory for foodborne outbreaks in September 2006. In 2007, 10 NoV foodborne outbreaks were reported affecti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Epidemiology and infection 2009-03, Vol.137 (3), p.316-325
Main Authors: BAERT, L., UYTTENDAELE, M., STALS, A., VAN COILLIE, E., DIERICK, K., DEBEVERE, J., BOTTELDOORN, N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Belgium - epidemiology
Bivalvia
Caliciviridae Infections - epidemiology
Consumer Product Safety
Cooperation
Disease Outbreaks
Epidemiology
Food
Food consumption
Food Contamination
Food handler
Food Handling - methods
Food Microbiology
foodborne and waterborne outbreaks
Foodborne Diseases - epidemiology
Foodborne Diseases - virology
Foodborne illnesses
Gastroenteritis
Gastroenteritis - epidemiology
Gastroenteritis - virology
Genotype
Global Health
Humans
Laboratories
Microbiology
Mortality
Norovirus
Norovirus - genetics
Norovirus - isolation & purification
Potable water
Review Articles
Salmonella
Sandwiches
Shellfish
viral gastroenteritis
Viruses
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Summary:The Belgian data for foodborne norovirus (NoV) outbreaks became available for the first time with the introduction of an extraction and detection protocol for NoV in the National Reference Laboratory for foodborne outbreaks in September 2006. In 2007, 10 NoV foodborne outbreaks were reported affecting 392 persons in Belgium. NoV became the most detected agent in foodborne outbreaks followed by Salmonella (eight foodborne outbreaks). The major implicated foods were sandwiches (4/10), where food handlers reported a history of gastroenteritis in two outbreaks. A food handler was implicated in the limited number of Belgian NoV outbreaks which is in accord with internationally recorded data. Forty foodborne and waterborne outbreak events due to NoV, epidemiological and/or laboratory confirmed, from 2000 to 2007 revealed that in 42·5% of the cases the food handler was responsible for the outbreak, followed by water (27·5%), bivalve shellfish (17·5%) and raspberries (10·0%).
ISSN:0950-2688
1469-4409
DOI:10.1017/S0950268808001830