On June 14, 2008, an outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred among elementary school students in Incheon. We conducted an investigation to identify the source and described the extent of the outbreak. We performed a retrospective cohort study among students, teachers and food handlers exposed to canteen food in the elementary school. Using self-administered questionnaires we collected information on symptoms, days of canteen food eaten, food items consumed. Stool samples were collected from 131 symptomatic people and 11 food handlers. The catering kitchen was inspected and food samples were taken. Of the 1,560 people who ate canteen food, 117 were symptomatic cases, and the attack rate was 7.5%. Consumption of cucumber-crown daisy salad (RR=2.71), fresh cabbage mix (RR=2.23), dried radish salad (RR=3.04) and young radish kimchi (RR=2.52) were associated with illness. Sixty-four (45%) of the 142 stool specimens were positive for Norovirus. Norovirus was detected in 2 food handlers. Interviews with kitchen staff indicated the likelihood of contamination from an infected food handler to the dried radish salad during food processing. The excretion of Norovirus from asymptomatic food handlers may be an infection source of Norovirus outbreaks.
Over the past 10 years, genomes of cultivated rice cultivars and their wild counterparts have been sequenced although most efforts are focused on genome assembly and annotation of two major cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) subspecies, 93-11 (indica) and Nipponbare (japonica). To integrate information from genome assemblies and annotations for better analysis and application, we now introduce a comparative rice genome database, the Rice Genome Knowledgebase (RGKbase, http://rgkbase.big.ac.cn/RGKbase/). RGKbase is built to have three major components: (i) integrated data curation for rice genomics and molecular biology, which includes genome sequence assemblies, transcriptomic and epigenomic data, genetic variations, quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and the relevant literature; (ii) User-friendly viewers, such as Gbrowse, GeneBrowse and Circos, for genome annotations and evolutionary dynamics and (iii) Bioinformatic tools for compositional and synteny analyses, gene family classifications, gene ontology terms and pathways and gene co-expression networks. RGKbase current includes data from five rice cultivars and species: Nipponbare (japonica), 93-11 (indica), PA64s (indica), the African rice (Oryza glaberrima) and a wild rice species (Oryza brachyantha). We are also constantly introducing new datasets from variety of public efforts, such as two recent releases—sequence data from ∼1000 rice varieties, which are mapped into the reference genome, yielding ample high-quality single-nucleotide polymorphisms and insertions–deletions.
On July 6, 2009, an outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred among middle school students in Incheon. An investigation to identify the source and describe the extent of the outbreak was conducted. A retrospective cohort study among students, teachers, and food handlers exposed to canteen food in the middle school was performed. Using self-administered questionnaires, information was collected concerning on symptoms, days that canteen food was consumed, and food items consumed. Stool samples were collected from 66 patients and 11 food handlers. The catering kitchen was inspected and food samples were taken. Of the 791 people who ate canteen food, 92 cases became ill, representing an attack rate of 11.6%. Thirty-one (40.3%) of the 77 stool specimens were positive for Campylobacter jejuni. Interviews with kitchen staff indicated the likelihood that undercooked chicken was provided. This is the first recognized major C. jejuni outbreak associated with contaminated chicken documented in Korea.
Norovirus (NV) has caused large outbreaks of gastroenteritis in schools. Studies of NV epidemiology in schools related to NV outbreaks have been frequently reported. However, reports of that in schools without outbreaks are not found. Presently, NV molecular epidemiology surveillance was carried out in asymptomatic food handlers working at nonoutbreak elementary schools in Incheon, Korea, in March, April and December, 2009. NV prevalence was examined by real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) and the positive products were re-evaluated by conventional RT-PCR for sequencing. Fecal samples (n = 776) were collected from 776 food handlers in 60 schools. NV was detected in 26 of them (3.4%). Of these, 17 (65%) were positive for NV GII and 10 (38%) were positive for NV GI. Of the 26 samples, 19 were positive by conventional RT-PCR. Sequencing of these 19 strains revealed GII/4 (n = 5), GI/6 (n = 3), GI/14 (n = 2), GII/8 (n = 2), GI/2 (n = 2), GI/10 (n = 1), GII/1 (n = 1), GII/3 (n = 1), GII/7 (n = 1), and GII/16 (n = 1). In this survey, the food handler population unrelated to NV outbreaks was found to normally contain asymptomatic carriers of NV. The excretion of NV from asymptomatic food handlers should be an infection source of NV outbreaks.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.