title: Food-borne outbreak of gastroenteritis associated with genogroup I calicivirus.
abstract: An outbreak of gastroenteritis affecting 158 of 219 (72%) guests and employees at a hotel is described. Food served at the hotel restaurant is believed to have been the source of the outbreak and to have been contaminated by sick employees working in the restaurant. A secondary attack rate of 22% was seen involving 43 persons in all. In stool specimens from seven of eight patients, Norwalk-like viruses (NLVs) were detected by electron microscopy. While NLV-specific PCR using primers JV12 and JV13 were negative, all specimens examined with primers NVp69 and NVp110 were positive. The failure of primers JV12 and JV13 was attributed to several mismatches in the JV12 primer. Genotyping and sequence analysis revealed that all samples had identical sequences and clustered with genogroup I, and the most closely related well-characterized genotype is Desert Shield. This is the first described food-borne outbreak associated with genogroup I virus in Sweden.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Infection Control Unit, Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, University Hospital of Lund, Lund, Sweden. hugo.johansson@skane.se
authors.forename: P J Hugo
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Torvén
authors.forename: Ann-Christin
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Hammarlund
authors.forename: Ulla
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Björne
authors.forename: Kjell-Olof
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Hedlund
authors.forename: Lennart
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Svensson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002139:Caliciviridae / Q000145:classification*; D017250:Caliciviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged