Yung-Ching Lin1, Elisabeth Hipfl2, Ingeborg Lederer3, Franz Allerberger3, Daniela Schmid4. 1. Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Währingerstraße 25a, 1096 Vienna, Austria; The European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Stockholm, Sweden. 2. Public Health Authority, Carinthia, Austria. 3. Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Währingerstraße 25a, 1096 Vienna, Austria. 4. Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Währingerstraße 25a, 1096 Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: daniela.schmid@ages.at.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: An Austrian boarding school reported a cluster of gastroenteritis on January 10, 2014. Environmental swabs from the school cafeteria and a nearby kebab restaurant tested positive for norovirus. The outbreak was investigated to identify its source(s). METHODS: An outbreak case was defined as a student or staff member with diarrhoea or vomiting that developed between January 7 and 13. Details on food exposure were collected via a self-administered questionnaire; risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Norovirus from the stool specimens of cases and asymptomatic kebab restaurant workers were genotyped. RESULTS: Twenty-eight cases were identified among 144 persons (attack rate 19%). The outbreak emerged and peaked on January 9, and ended on January 12. Compared to those who did not eat kebab, those who ate kebab on 7, 8, and 9 January were respectively 11 (95% CI 4.2-28), 6.7 (95% CI 3.4-13), and 9.3 (95% CI 4.0-22) times more likely to develop disease within the following 2 days. Stool specimens from three cases and three restaurant workers were positive for norovirus GII.P21. CONCLUSIONS: The kebab prepared by norovirus-positive restaurant workers was the most likely source of the outbreak. It is recommended that food handlers comply strictly with hand hygiene and avoid bare-handed contact with ready-to-eat food to minimize the risk of food-borne infection.
OBJECTIVES: An Austrian boarding school reported a cluster of gastroenteritis on January 10, 2014. Environmental swabs from the school cafeteria and a nearby kebab restaurant tested positive for norovirus. The outbreak was investigated to identify its source(s). METHODS: An outbreak case was defined as a student or staff member with diarrhoea or vomiting that developed between January 7 and 13. Details on food exposure were collected via a self-administered questionnaire; risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Norovirus from the stool specimens of cases and asymptomatic kebab restaurant workers were genotyped. RESULTS: Twenty-eight cases were identified among 144 persons (attack rate 19%). The outbreak emerged and peaked on January 9, and ended on January 12. Compared to those who did not eat kebab, those who ate kebab on 7, 8, and 9 January were respectively 11 (95% CI 4.2-28), 6.7 (95% CI 3.4-13), and 9.3 (95% CI 4.0-22) times more likely to develop disease within the following 2 days. Stool specimens from three cases and three restaurant workers were positive for norovirus GII.P21. CONCLUSIONS: The kebab prepared by norovirus-positive restaurant workers was the most likely source of the outbreak. It is recommended that food handlers comply strictly with hand hygiene and avoid bare-handed contact with ready-to-eat food to minimize the risk of food-borne infection.
Authors: Mari Morgan; Vicky Watts; David Allen; Daniele Curtis; Amir Kirolos; Neil Macdonald; Ellie Maslen; Deb Morgan; Ayoub Saei; James Sedgwick; Janet Stevenson; Deborah Turbitt; Roberto Vivancos; Catriona Waugh; Chris Williams; Valerie Decraene Journal: Euro Surveill Date: 2019-05
Authors: Joanne L Hardstaff; Helen E Clough; Vittoria Lutje; K Marie McIntyre; John P Harris; Paul Garner; Sarah J O'Brien Journal: Foodborne Pathog Dis Date: 2018-08-15 Impact factor: 3.171