Research Publications (Food Safety)

Noroviruses (NoV), rotaviruses (RVA), and adenoviruses (AdV) are the main viral agents responsible for acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in humans. We aimed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of four commercial immunochromatographic tests (ICTs) intended for the rapid and simultaneous detection of these three pathogens.

Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile infection (CDI) is the most common causative pathogen of health care-associated gastrointestinal infections; however, due to the overlap of clinical symptoms with those of other causes of acute gastroenteritis, the selection of the most appropriate laboratory test is difficult. From April to October 2018, 640 stool samples requested for CDI testing were examined using the mariPOC CDI and Gastro test (ArcDia), which allows the detection of C.

The conventional methodology for gastrointestinal pathogen detection remains time-consuming, expensive, and of limited sensitivity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the BD Max enteric viral panel (Max EVP) assay for identification of viral pathogens in stool specimens from individuals with symptoms of acute gastroenteritis, enteritis, or colitis.

The conventional methodology for gastrointestinal pathogen detection remains time-consuming, expensive, and of limited sensitivity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the BD Max enteric viral panel (Max EVP) assay for identification of viral pathogens in stool specimens from individuals with symptoms of acute gastroenteritis, enteritis, or colitis.

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) is a major cause of diarrhea in children from developing countries and presents high genetic variability. We aimed to characterize the EPEC virulence-related gene (VRG) distribution and copathogens associated with diarrhea and nutrition-related outcomes in children from the low-income Brazilian semiarid region. A cross-sectional case-control study of diarrhea was conducted in 1,191 children aged 2 to 36 months from the northeast region of Brazil.

We aimed to detect the etiological agents of acute diarrhea by a molecular gastrointestinal pathogen test (MGPT) and to assess the impact of MGPT on antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP). This is a prospective observational study and was conducted between 1 January 2015 and 30 June 2017. We included consequent patients who had acute diarrhea. At the end of 2015, we implemented ASP in acute diarrhea cases and compared the outcomes in the pre-ASP and post-ASP periods.

Conventional methods for the identification of gastrointestinal pathogens are time-consuming and expensive and have limited sensitivity. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical impact of a comprehensive molecular test, the BioFire FilmArray gastrointestinal (GI) panel, which tests for many of the most common agents of infectious diarrhea in approximately 1 h.

A novel GII.17 norovirus variant caused major gastroenteritis epidemics in China in 2014 to 2016. To explore the host immune factors in selection of the emergence of this new variant, we characterized its antigenic relatedness with the GII.4 noroviruses that have dominated in China for decades.

Noroviruses are the most frequent cause of epidemic acute gastroenteritis in the United States. Between September 2013 and August 2016, 2,715 genotyped norovirus outbreaks were submitted to CaliciNet. GII.4 Sydney viruses caused 58% of the outbreaks during these years. A GII.4 Sydney virus with a novel GII.P16 polymerase emerged in November 2015, causing 60% of all GII.4 outbreaks in the 2015-2016 season.

The emergence of new norovirus genotype GII.4 strains is associated with widespread norovirus epidemics. Extended periods of viral shedding can contribute to the epidemic potential of norovirus. To describe the duration of viral shedding in infections with novel emerging GII.4 strains versus infections with previously circulating strains, we performed a prospective cohort study of patients hospitalized with norovirus gastroenteritis during separate winter seasons.

Norovirus full-genome sequencing is challenging due to sequence heterogeneity among genomes. Previous methods have relied on PCR amplification, which is problematic due to primer design, and transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq), which nonspecifically sequences all RNA, including host and bacterial RNA, in stool specimens.

Two commonly used norovirus enzyme immunoassays have reduced diagnostic performance, with clinical sensitivities ranging from 11% to 35% for the detection of the recently emerging genogroup II genotype 17 (GII.17) Kawasaki 2014 variant that caused the majority of infections in Asia during the winter of 2014 to 2015. False-negative results can compromise infection control and patient management.

Diarrheal disease is a complex syndrome that remains a leading cause of global childhood morbidity and mortality. The diagnosis of enteric pathogens in a timely and precise manner is important for making treatment decisions and informing public health policy, but accurate diagnosis is a major challenge in industrializing countries. Multiplex molecular diagnostic techniques may represent a significant improvement over classical approaches.

The potential to rapidly capture the entire microbial community structure and/or gene content makes metagenomic sequencing an attractive tool for pathogen identification and the detection of resistance/virulence genes in clinical settings.

Norovirus is the most common cause of sporadic gastroenteritis and outbreaks worldwide. The rapid identification of norovirus has important implications for infection prevention measures and may reduce the need for additional diagnostic testing. The Xpert Norovirus assay recently received FDA clearance for the detection and differentiation of norovirus genogroups I and II (GI and GII), which account for the vast majority of infections.

The performance of a norovirus antigen detection assay was assessed using monoclonal antibody NV23 and single-chain antibody HJT-R3-A9 to identify both virus-like particles and virus-containing fecal samples. The detection of 25 different norovirus genotypes as recombinant virus-like particles or in clinical samples was dependent on virus or antigen concentration.

A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the TaqMan probe-binding site resulted in decreased sensitivity of real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-rtPCR) for detection of norovirus genogroup II genotype 4 (GII.4) Sydney. A new degenerate probe was designed that improved the sensitivity of the detection while not interfering with the detection of other GII and GI strains.

Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) are a major cause of viral gastroenteritis, with an estimated 3 million cases per year in the United Kingdom. HuNoVs have recently been isolated from pet dogs in Europe (M. Summa, C.-H. von Bonsdorff, and L. Maunula, J Clin Virol 53:244–247, 2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2011.12.014), raising concerns about potential zoonotic infections.

Human noroviruses are the leading cause of epidemic and sporadic gastroenteritis across all age groups. Although the disease is usually self-limiting, in the United States norovirus gastroenteritis causes an estimated 56,000 to 71,000 hospitalizations and 570 to 800 deaths each year.