NOROVIRUS, OYSTERS - USA: (LOUISIANA)
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Date: Wed 9 May 2012
Source: The Advocate [edited]
<http://theadvocate.com/news/2782977-123/oyster-area-closed-after-14>
After 14 people reported stomach viruses after eating Louisiana oysters at a New Orleans restaurant last month [April 2012], the state Department of Health and Hospitals [DHH] has closed the Gulf Coast area where the oysters were harvested. State Health Officer Dr Jimmy Guidry said Tuesday [8 May 2012] he would not name the restaurant because the incident was an oyster harvest area problem, not a restaurant problem. Harvest tags showed the oysters consumed at the restaurant came from the southern portion of the harvesting area in Terrebonne Parish, according to DHH.
Guidry said 1141 sacks of oysters came from the now-closed harvesting area since 26 Apr 2012, with 80 sacks going to the New Orleans area and 1061 sacks going to Maryland, Texas, and Georgia. No oysters from that area and that period were sold in Baton Rouge, he said. So far, there have been no reports of illness from other states where the oysters were sold, Guidry said.
Although sometimes harvesting area closures can be due to heavy rainfall washing fecal material into oyster beds, Guidry said this incident was too localized to be caused by runoff. Instead, the incident indicates that someone was fishing in an area and put sewage overboard thinking it wasn't a big deal, but the sewage got into the oyster bed, he said. The DHH announcement also included a recall of all oysters harvested from the area since 26 Apr 2012, meaning shucked, frozen, breaded, post-harvest-processed, and raw oysters, according to a news release.
The 14 people who reported becoming ill with a norovirus ate at the New Orleans restaurant on 20 or 29 Apr 2012, according to DHH. Of those people, no one was hospitalized, according to DHH. The symptoms that accompany this "stomach flu" usually start about a day or 2 after eating or drinking something carrying the virus. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramping, and sometimes people have a low-grade fever, chills, headache, muscle ache, and fatigue, according to DHH. Although cooking kills the virus, people have gotten sick after eating undercooked oysters from a contaminated area, according to DHH.
The harvesting area closure announced Tuesday [8 May 2012] is expected to last about 21 days. John Tesvich, chairman of the Louisiana Oyster Task Force, said typically the norovirus seems to appear when the water is cooler in the winter months. "It's a little unusual to have it happen at this time of the year," he said. The closure of one area of the coast should not have much effect on the supply of oysters in the state, Tesvich said. Although areas north of the area closed Tuesday also are closed, that's likely because the areas typically are closed on a seasonal basis because of water flow from the Atchafalaya River, he said. "The river water does not meet the cleanliness levels for fecal contamination (for oyster harvest)," Tesvich said. So when there are heavy rains or high river flows, those areas are closed as a precaution, he said. "When the river gets high, the pollution goes farther out," Tesvich said.
Mike Voisin, of the Louisiana Oyster Task Force in Terrebonne Parish, said the closed area is small and there has been limited harvest out of it this year [2012] in part because of large amounts of fresh water that flowed over it during last year's flood and damaged oysters.
"From a public health perspective, we use a safety net of testing,"
Voisin said. "But every once in a while you get a break in the net and that appears what happened here."
[Byline: Amy Wold]
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ProMED-mail
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[Noroviruses are a group of related, single-stranded RNA, non-enveloped viruses that cause acute gastroenteritis in humans.
Noroviruses are part of the larger family _Caliciviridae_. Currently, there are 5 recognized norovirus genogroups, of which 3 (GI, GII, and
GIV) are known to affect humans. More than 25 different genotypes have been identified within these genogroups. And since 2002, variants of the GII.4 genotype have been the most common cause of norovirus outbreaks.
It appears that immunity may be strain-specific and lasts only a few months; therefore, given the genetic variability of noroviruses, individuals are likely to be repeatedly infected throughout their lifetimes. This may explain the high attack rates in all ages reported in outbreaks. Recent evidence also suggests that susceptibility to infection may be genetically determined. (Further information can be obtained at <http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/index.html>.)
For further information, see: Updated Norovirus Outbreak Management and Disease Prevention Guidelines. MMWR Recommendations and Reports 4 Mar 2011 / 60(RR03);1-15; <http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr6003a1.htm>
The state of Louisiana can be located on the HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of the United States at <http://healthmap.org/r/2lfZ>.
- Mod.CP]
[see also:
2011
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Norovirus, strain characterization 20110714.2134 Oyster recall - Canada (02): (BC) norovirus conf. 20101007.3638 Oyster recall - Canada: (BC), norovirus susp. 20100925.3466 2010
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Norovirus, oysters - USA (02): (LA) 20100416.1238 Norovirus, oysters - USA: (LA) 20100407.1113 Norovirus, oysters - Europe: (UK, Norway, France, Sweden, Denmark)
20100325.0954
2009
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Norovirus, raw oysters - USA: recall, alert 20091207.4169
2008
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Norovirus, oysters - New Zealand: (North Island) 20081013.3242
2007
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Norovirus, oysters - USA (TX): recall 20070304.0754
2006
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Norovirus, oysters - USA (OR) ex Korea 20061213.3503 Norovirus, oysters - New Zealand ex Korea 20060714.1947] .................................................mhj/cp/mj/mpp/ll
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