Research Publications (Food Safety)

Chronic hepatitis (CH) in dogs is histologically characterized by an inflammatory infiltration of the liver accompanied by hepatocellular apoptosis or necrosis, varying degrees of fibrosis and regeneration. Oxidative stress has been suggested to play a role in the pathog

Norovirus (NoV) foodborne illness reduction continues to be a focus for the food safety community.  Using a previously published quantitative risk assessment model (Duret et al ., 2017. Risk Anal. , 37:2080-2106), we evaluated more than sixty scenarios examining the impact of compliance and implementation of risk management strategies identified in the FDA Food Code associated with (a) surface cleaning/sanitizing; (b) hand hygiene; (c) exclusion; and (d) restriction.

Slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) is a commonly used disinfectant for fecal sludge. Although viruses are inactivated by lime treatment, whether RNA viruses adapt to lime treatment has not yet been determined. Here, we show that murine norovirus developed higher tolerance during serial passages with lime treatment.

Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 2, Page 195-203, March 2022. In humans, co-infection of hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV, HCV) is common and aggravates disease outcome. Infection-mediated disease aggravation is poorly understood, partly due to lack of suitable animal models. Carnivores are understudied for hepatitis virus homologues. We investigated Mexican carnivores (ringtails, Bassariscus astutus) for HBV and HCV homologues.

Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 2, Page 286-296, March 2022. Hepatitis E is a significant liver disease caused by infection with hepatitis E virus (HEV). The risk factors for hepatitis E in developed countries include blood transfusion and ingestion of undercooked meat or meat products derived from HEV-infected animals. Since 2000, there has been increased human hepatitis E incidence reported in Singapore.

Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. The hepatitis E virus (HEV) can cause acute and chronic hepatitis in humans. Infections with the zoonotic HEV genotype 3, which can be transmitted from infected wild boar and deer to humans, are increasingly detected in Europe.

Abstract Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen, and the appearance of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) renders S. aureus infections more challenging to treat. Therefore, new antimicrobial drugs are urgently needed to combat MRSA infections. Drug repurposing is an effective and feasible strategy.

The challenge to develop an animal model system to replicate human norovirus (HuNoV) has hampered the study of its pathogenesis and therapeutic intervention. In this study, we replicated HuNoV GII.4 and expressed genes in virus-infected zebrafish. Three doses of inoculation successfully replicated the virus.

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection results in multiple clinical phenotypes of varying severity. One of the critical gaps in CHB management is the lack of a genetic-based tool to aid existing hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis risk stratification models for patients with active CHB. Such individual predictive models for CHB are plagued by an inherent limitation of discriminatory power that clearly indicates the need for their improvement.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignancy in the world, with high mortality and poor prognosis. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the key factors implicated in the occurrence of HCC. Increasing evidence suggests that miRNAs play important roles in the development and metastasis of HBV-associated HCC (HBV-HCC).

The antinoroviral effect of copper ions is well known, yet most of this work has previously been conducted in copper and copper alloy surfaces, not copper ions in solution. In this work, we characterized the effects that Cu ions have on human norovirus capsids’ and surrogates’ integrity to explain empirical data, indicating virus inactivation by copper alloy surfaces, and as means of developing novel metal ion-based virucides.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the main causes of chronic liver diseases, the disorders of which involve multiple pathological processes and elements including host factors such as non-coding small RNAs. Although several genes have been reported to be correlated with HCV infection, the potential regulatory network has not been deciphered clearly.

Berries have been implicated as the probable vehicle of infection in multiple outbreaks of norovirus and hepatitis A virus (HAV). These foods often receive minimal or no processing and may be exposed to virus contamination at each stage of production. In an increasingly globalized world, berries have a wide distribution and can give rise to the spread of diseases in distant parts of the world.

Letters in Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. Noroviruses cause acute gastroenteritis with symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting, and their high infectivity allows outbreaks to readily occur. Quickly identifying and isolating potential contaminants is an effective method to prevent the spread of outbreaks.

Transmission of pathogens present in the indoor air can occur through aerosols. This study evaluated the efficacy of an evaporated mix of essential oils to reduce the numbers of culturable aerosolized coronavirus, bacterium and fungus. The essential oil-containing gel was allowed to vaporize inside a glass chamber for 10 or 20 min.

To determine the efficacy of a panel of nine EPA-registered disinfectants against two human norovirus (HuNoV) surrogates [feline calicivirus (FCV) and Tulane virus (TuV)] and Clostridioides difficile endospores. Nine EPA-registered products, five of which contained H2O2 as active ingredient, were tested against infectious FCV, TuV, and C. difficile endospores using two ASTM methods, a suspension and carrier test.

Zoonoses and Public Health, EarlyView. Autochthonous cases of hepatitis E (HE) associated with zoonotic genotypes HEV-3 and HEV-4 have significantly increased in industrialized countries over the last decade. Suidae are generally recognized as the main reservoirs of these genotypes. Susceptibility to HE virus (HEV) infection and zoonotic potential have also been confirmed in other species, including sheep and goat.

Zoonoses and Public Health, EarlyView. Worldwide, hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is considered a significant public health concern. In particular, HEV genotype 4 (HEV-4) has spread to more areas and host species. In this study, we describe the global distribution of HEV-4 and characterize HEV-4 subtypes by host, country and year of isolation. We retrospectively collected HEV-4 sequences available before December 31, 2019, in GenBank.

There is an upward trend of consumption of organic fresh vegetables due to consumer demand for healthy foods without chemical additives. On the other hand, the number of food borne outbreaks associated with contaminated fresh produce has raised, being human norovirus genogroup I (GI), GII and hepatitis A virus (HAV) the most commonly reported causative agents.

by Kenta Takaura, Masayuki Kurosaki, Kento Inada, Sakura Kirino, Kouji Yamashita, Tomohiro Muto, Leona Osawa, Shuhei Sekiguchi, Yuka Hayakawa, Mayu Higuchi, Shun Kaneko, Chiaki Maeyashiki, Nobuharu Tamaki, Yutaka Yasui, Jun Itakura, Kaoru Tsuchiya, Hiroyuki Nakanishi, Yuka Takahashi, Namiki Izumi Background and aim The long-term prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated at a very-early-stage (the Barcelona Clinical Liver Cancer (BCLC) classification stage 0) was unclear, e

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the major cause of acute hepatitis worldwide. HEV is a positive-sense RNA virus expressing three open reading frames (ORFs). ORF1 encodes the ORF1 non–structural polyprotein, the viral replicase which transcribes the full-length genome and a subgenomic RNA that encodes the structural ORF2 and ORF3 proteins.

Background:Serratia is an opportunistic pathogen known to cause an array of infectious presentations. Aside from case reports, intravenous (IV) drug use has not been adequately quantified as a major risk factor for Serratia infection.Methods:A retrospective cohort study of 103 adult patients admitted to four community hospitals in Ohio from January 2014 to December 2018 with a positive blood culture for Serratia species.

Journal of Applied Microbiology, Volume 132, Issue 3, Page 1616-1635, March 2022. Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) is characterized by the detection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in serum or liver but negativity for hepatitis B surface antigen. OBI, which is thought to be maintained by host, immunological, viral and/or epigenetic factors, is one of the most challenging clinical features in the study of viral hepatitis. Currently, there is no validated detection test for OBI.

The emerging hepatitis-hydropericardium syndrome (HHS) caused by the novel genotype of fowl adenovirus 4 (FAdV-4) and the infectious bursal disease (IBD) caused by the infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) are important avian diseases, both cause huge economic losses to the poultry industry. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an efficient and convenient FAdV-4/IBDV bivalent vaccine to prevent the spread of FAdV-4 and IBDV infections.

Exposure to cadmium (Cd), a toxic metal, is epidemiologically linked to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in humans. However, the role of Cd in NASH remains to be fully elucidated. This study employed a novel murine NASH model to investigate the effects of chronic low-dose Cd on hepatic pathology and its underlying mechanisms. NASH is characterized by lipid accumulation, extensive cell death, and persistent inflammation in the liver.