The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its estimates for the burden of domestically acquired foodborne illnesses in the U.S. caused by major pathogens. Norovirus was the leading cause of illnesses and hospitalizations, but Salmonella topped fatalities.
Scientists have discovered antibodies that can neutralize a wide range of norovirus strains, laying the groundwork for a broadly effective vaccine. Historically, development of a norovirus vaccine has been hindered by the virus’ many genetic variants and frequent mutation.
Following a winter with higher-than-average reports of norovirus cases linked to an emergent genotype, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is warning the public about a potential second wave of infections associated with a second, more common genotype.
The UK Government is proposing the addition of several foodborne and waterborne viruses, bacteria, and parasites to the list of notifiable causative agents under the Health Protection Notification Regulations, for which laboratories testing human samples are required to report positive test results.
Funded by the Center for Produce Safety, researchers with the University of Barcelona and the Spanish Research Council are developing novel testing protocols for norovirus and hepatitis A on berries and leafy greens, enabling faster analysis and reducing false positives.
The FAO/WHO Joint Expert Meeting on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) has published a report ranking the most important foodborne viruses and virus-food commodity pairings.
Primerdesign recently launched its new genesig® Easy_oys Detection Kit for Norovirus in oysters, a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay capable of producing results onsite in as little as four hours.
Funded by the Center for Produce Safety, a University of Georgia researcher is leveraging cutting-edge technology to improve the standard method for detection of viruses on foods, and then will use the method to study infectious norovirus persistence on berries.
