title: Noroviruses in seafood: a 9-year monitoring in Italy.
abstract: Norovirus (NoV) are increasingly important as etiological agents of gastrointestinal infections. Consumption of bivalve molluscs and ready-to-eat fishery products is one of the most common ways of acquiring NoV foodborne infections, and the rise of outbreaks of viral gastroenteritis represents an important health problem that is also responsible for economic losses. The aim of this work was to define the prevalence of NoV contamination in preserved fishery products and in shellfish commercialized in Italy, taking into account the results obtained during 9 years of survey (2003-2011) and paying special attention to the regions more involved in national production. A total of 4463 samples were examined (2310 mussels, 1517 clams, 510 oysters, 22 other shellfish species, 104 preserved seafood products) and the average positivity rate for NoV presence was 4.1% and ranged from 0.6% in 2007 to 9.8% in 2003 and from 1.9% in preserved seafood products to 4.7% in mussels. Genetic characterization of circulating strains showed a prevalence of genogroup II genotypes, including GII.b and GII.e polymerase types and different GII.4 variants. This information could contribute to the optimization of risk-based sampling strategies for NoV contamination in seafood, taking into account variability in different species and from year to year.
authors: Department of Food Microbiology, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna, Brescia, Italy. enrico.pavoni@izsler.it
authors: Enrico
authors: E
authors: Pavoni
authors: Marta
authors: M
authors: Consoli
authors: Elisabetta
authors: E
authors: Suffredini
authors: Giuseppe
authors: G
authors: Arcangeli
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Serracca
authors: Roberta
authors: R
authors: Battistini
authors: Irene
authors: I
authors: Rossini
authors: Luciana
authors: L
authors: Croci
authors: Marina Nadia
authors: MN
authors: Losio
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049872:Bivalvia / Q000821:virology*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005396:Fish Products / Q000191:economics / Q000821:virology; D005513:Food Inspection; D057141:Food, Preserved / Q000191:economics / Q000821:virology; D007558:Italy; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D058889:Molecular Typing; D049878:Mytilus / Q000821:virology; D029322:Norovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010125:Ostreidae / Q000821:virology; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017747:Seafood / Q000191:economics / Q000821:virology; D012758:Shellfish / Q000191:economics / Q000821:virology*; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins