An outbreak of norovirus infection associated with fermented oyster consumption in South Korea, 2013

• Published in: Epidemiology and infection Vol. 144; no. 13; pp. 2759 - 2764
• Main Authors: CHO, H. G., LEE, S. G., LEE, M. Y., HUR, E. S., LEE, J. S., PARK, P. H., PARK, Y. B., YOON, M. H., PAIK, S. Y.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Cambridge University Press 01-10-2016
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Adolescent; Age; Animals; Caliciviridae Infections - epidemiology; Caliciviridae Infections - virology; Capsid Proteins - genetics; Case-Control Studies; Disease; Disease Outbreaks; Epidemics; Fermentation; Food contamination & poisoning; Food Microbiology; Gastroenteritis - epidemiology; Gastroenteritis - virology; Humans; Infections; Investigations; Norovirus; Norovirus - physiology; Original Papers; Ostreidae - virology; Oysters; Pathogens; Phylogeny; Polymerase chain reaction; Public health; Questionnaires; Republic of Korea - epidemiology; Restaurants; Secondary schools; Sequence Analysis, RNA; Shellfish - virology; Students; United States > US; South Korea; Korea, Rep; oysters; Foodborne outbreak; gastroenteritis; norovirus
• ISSN: 0950-2688; 1469-4409
• DOI: 10.1017/S0950268816000170

An acute gastroenteritis (AGE) outbreak was reported in May 2013 in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Eight students who had eaten breakfast on 21 May 2013 at a high-school restaurant exhibited AGE symptoms. Our case-control study showed that a strong association was observed between AGE symptoms and fermented oyster consumption. Virological studies also indicated that noroviruses (NoVs) were detected from both clinical samples and fermented oyster samples, and multiple different genotypes (genogroups GII.4, GII.11 and GII.14) of NoVs were present in both samples. The nucleotide sequence similarity between the strains found in the clinical samples and those in the fermented oysters was more than 99·5%. Therefore, to prevent further outbreaks, proper management of raw oysters is necessary and the food industry should be aware of the risk of viral gastroenteritis posed by fermented oysters contaminated with NoVs.