Häfliger D, Hübner P, Lüthy J
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Berne, Switzerland.
Int J Food Microbiol. 2000 Mar 10;54(1-2):123-6. doi: 10.1016/s0168-1605(99)00176-2.
In August 1998, a large outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred in a Swiss village of 3500 inhabitants whereof more than 50% were affected. A high contamination of drinking water with faecal coliforms revealed a defect in the waste water system. The objective of the present study was to investigate the outbreak in respect of the presence of human pathogenic viruses. Drinking water and clinical samples from patients were examined for the presence of 'Norwalk-like viruses' (NLVs) and enteroviruses. NLVs and enteroviruses were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in one of two drinking water samples. Five of seven stool samples from ill persons were positive for NLVs. Typing of NLV-specific RT-PCR products by DNA sequencing revealed the presence of an identical genogroup-1 strain closely related to Southampton virus in both the water and one of the stool samples. A genogroup-2 NLV strain was identified in all positive stool samples. The enteroviral amplicon showed high sequence similarity with swine vesicular disease virus. These results demonstrate that the drinking water was highly contaminated with enteric viruses and that at least two NLV strains were involved in this outbreak of gastroenteritis.
1998年8月，瑞士一个拥有3500名居民的村庄爆发了大规模肠胃炎疫情，超过50%的居民受到影响。饮用水中粪便大肠菌群的高度污染表明废水系统存在缺陷。本研究的目的是调查此次疫情中人类致病病毒的存在情况。对饮用水和患者的临床样本进行了“诺如病毒样病毒”（NLVs）和肠道病毒检测。通过逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）在两份饮用水样本中的一份中检测到了NLVs和肠道病毒。七份患病者粪便样本中有五份NLVs呈阳性。通过DNA测序对NLV特异性RT-PCR产物进行分型，结果显示在水和其中一份粪便样本中均存在与南安普敦病毒密切相关的相同基因群1型毒株。在所有阳性粪便样本中均鉴定出基因群2型NLV毒株。肠道病毒扩增子与猪水疱病病毒具有高度序列相似性。这些结果表明，饮用水受到肠道病毒的高度污染，并且至少有两种NLV毒株参与了此次肠胃炎疫情。
