title: Foodborne outbreaks of hepatitis A in a low endemic country: an emerging problem?
abstract: This paper describes 2 outbreaks of hepatitis A infection in Finland, a very low endemic area of hepatitis A infection, where a large proportion of the population is now susceptible to infection by hepatitis A virus (HAV). The first outbreak involved people attending several schools and day-care centres; the second employees of several bank branches in a different city. The initial investigation revealed that both were related to food distributed widely from separate central kitchens. Two separate case-control studies implicated imported salad food items as the most likely vehicle of infection. HAV was detected in the stool of cases from both outbreaks using reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; however, comparison of viral genome sequences proved that the viruses were of different origin and hence the outbreaks, although occurring simultaneously, were not linked. Foodborne outbreaks of HAV may represent an increasing problem in populations not immune to HAV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Pebody
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Leino
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ruutu
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kinnunen
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Davidkin
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nohynek
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leinikki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005522:Food Services; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012574:Schools; D014675:Vegetables / Q000382:microbiology*