An outbreak of gastroenteritis during school trip caused by serotype G2 group A rotavirus.
Between May14 and 18, 2001, there was an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis involving 45 school children out of a total of 107 (aged 11-12 years) attending a 3-day school trip. The epidemic curve characterized by a rapid onset and decline with a single peak incidence over a 5-day period resembled the pattern typical of a food-borne gastroenteritis outbreak. Epidemiological and virological investigations concluded, however, that this outbreak was caused by a single strain of serotype G2 group A rotavirus spreading to schoolmates from the primary case-pupil who had already been ill at the start of the trip. Efficient person-to-person transmission was likely to have occurred due to prolonged and close contacts under the conditions typical of such school trips. This study emphasizes the importance of including group A rotavirus infection as a possible cause of gastroenteritis outbreaks even in older children and adults.
Mikami
Toshiyuki
T
Department of Microbiology, Aomori Prefectural Institute of Public Health and Environment, Aomori, Japan.
Nakagomi
Toyoko
T
Tsutsui
Rika
R
Ishikawa
Kazuko
K
Onodera
Yohko
Y
Arisawa
Kokichi
K
Nakagomi
Osamu
O
D002648:Child; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology; D012703:Serotyping
D012367:RNA, Viral