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<p>A systematic review of the persistence and survival of human noroviruses (hNoVs) in foods and the environment was carried out based upon PRISMA guidelines. Over 10,000 citations relevant to viruses present in foods and the environment were screened using defined inclusion and exclusion criteria from which 126 citations were identified for further evaluation. Persistence data from each of these publications were extracted for the conditions of the treatment (chemical dose, pH, and temperature, time, infectivity, and Real-Time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) results).</p>
<p>The only marker for hNoV persistence and survival is RTqPCR data and clinical studies. Therefore citations for inclusion were further restricted to only those that included hNoV RT-qPCR studies, in direct comparison with surrogate virus RT-qPCR and infectivity data; and also data from clinical trials. This resulted in 27 eligible laboratory-based studies and 3 clinical trials. Eligible studies were diverse and utilised different experimental approaches and methods. Few data were relevant to persistence and survival of hNoVs in real foods and on food contact surfaces. Data were further extracted for common treatments (heat and available chlorine) and for important additional experimental variables such as the matrix and RT-qPCR product size.</p>
<p>Background: Human NoVs are currently recognised as the single most common cause of acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis in the industrialised world. Genogroup II, genotype 4 (GII.4) strains of hNoV are detected most commonly in association with human disease, although there is a greater diversity of genotypes associated with foodborne outbreaks. Most hNoV foodborne disease outbreaks are associated with consumption of food outside of the home, where poor hygiene of infected food handlers is the major source of contamination. Contamination of fresh produce (eg berries, leafy greens) may be associated with human handling or the use of raw sewage or contaminated water during production or processing. Additionally, hNoV disease is highly contagious and shows rapid person-to-person transmission directly or indirectly through the faecal-oral route, from contaminated fomites and from aerosolized vomitus. Effective control measures for water treatment, food processing, cleaning and disinfection of surfaces, personal hygiene and hand washing, and/or sanitation are required in order to control the spread of hNoV along the food chain. However, the effectiveness of control measures to reduce the burden of foodborne norovirus infections remains largely unknown, partly because of the inability to grow the virus and partly due to the large number of surrogate studies of unknown relevance. </p>