A large outbreak of acute gastroenteritis associated with astrovirus among students and teachers in Osaka, Japan.
In June 1991, a large outbreak of acute nonbacterial gastroenteritis occurred among students and teachers at 10 primary and 4 junior high schools in Katano City, Osaka, Japan. The outbreak affected > 4700 persons, lasted 5 days, and was believed to have been linked to contaminated food from a common supplier. Astrovirus, identified as the etiologic agent, was detected by direct electron microscopy in 10 of 38 fecal samples obtained from patients with diarrhea. Detection was confirmed by solid-phase immune electron microscopy (IEM), EIA, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and virus isolation in CaCo-2 cells. Several patients who had astrovirus in their stool also demonstrated a significant antibody response to a reference strain of astrovirus by IEM and EIA and to their own isolate by IEM. Astrovirus can be an important agent of epidemic acute nonbacterial gastroenteritis in school-aged children and adults in Japan.
Laboratory of Virology, Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health, National Institute of Health, Tokyo, Japan.
I
I
Oishi
K
K
Yamazaki
T
T
Kimoto
Y
Y
Minekawa
E
E
Utagawa
S
S
Yamazaki
S
S
Inouye
G S
GS
Grohmann
S S
SS
Monroe
S E
SE
Stine
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005178:Faculty; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005522:Food Services; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D001257:Mamastrovirus / Q000276:immunology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016253:Microscopy, Immunoelectron; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013334:Students; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology
D000914:Antibodies, Viral