Update: A food-borne outbreak of hepatitis A in the Netherlands related to semi-dried tomatoes in oil, January-February 2010

Abstract

Between 31 December 2009 and 10 February 2010, 13 patients were infected by an identical hepatitis A virus strain not previously detected in the Netherlands. They had not been abroad and were widely distributed over the Netherlands. A case-control study including 12 cases and 44 controls identified semi-dried tomatoes in oil as the source of the outbreak (odds ratio: 20.0; 95% confidence interval: 1.5-274). The virus was not detected in any of 81 tested food samples. International trace-back is still ongoing.

Survival of Enteric Viruses in the Environment and Food

“…Enteric virus s urvival in dried state has been studied mostly on inanimate surfaces or fomites, and has been reviewed earlier in this chapter. The multistate outbreak of hepatitis A associated with the consumption of sun-dried tomatoes shows that if food is contaminated before drying, substantial numbers of viruses will still remain infectious (Gallot et al 2011 ;Petrignani et al 2010 ).…”

Epidemiological Transition and Strategies for the Control of Hepatitis A in Serbia

“…In the EU/EEA, several multinational outbreaks of HA have been reported in the past decade, including travel-related, community-wide, and foodborne outbreaks linked to the consumption of frozen fruits, dried vegetables, and fresh food products [ 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 ]. “Seeding events” when HAV was introduced into a susceptible population via a primary food- or travel-related case have led to community-wide transmission in some countries [ 29 , 42 ].…”

Hepatitis a Vaccine as Opportunity of Primary Prevention for Food Handlers: A Narrative Review

“…The persistence of HAV was also demonstrated under low-humidity conditions in different food matrices, such as lettuce, bell peppers, cantaloupe, and dried tomatoes [ 124 , 128 , 129 , 130 , 131 ].…”

“…As regards HAV detection in food, this has been the most extensively studied form since the 1990s [ 16 ]. Any food matrices can be implicated in outbreaks because of potential cross-contamination, but the most common reported categories are ready-to-eat foods that are eaten raw and do not undergo further processing (e.g., washing/decontamination procedures), shellfish and bivalve molluscs, fresh leafy greens, and fresh and frozen berries, especially berries [ 21 , 25 , 107 , 108 , 110 , 111 , 128 , 129 , 156 , 157 , 158 , 159 ]. Despite variations among countries and in time, a high prevalence of HAV positive bivalve molluscan shellfish has been reported all over European countries (e.g., 4% HAV prevalence in Greece, 3–75% in Spain, 7.5% in Poland, and 0.9–23.2% in Italy) [ 21 , 30 , 160 , 161 , 162 , 163 , 164 , 165 , 166 ], in the United States (4.4%) [ 167 ], in China (5%) [ 168 ], in Thailand (3.8%) [ 169 ], in Japan (1.8%) [ 170 ], in Mexico (23.3%) [ 171 ], in Turkey (3.3%) [ 172 ], in Morocco (2.6%) [ 173 ], in Tunisia (26%) [ 174 ], and in Vietnam (1.7%) [ 175 ].…”