Yeom Hansol, Seo Soonryu, Yoon Youngsil, Lee Jaeeun, Han Myung-Guk, Lee Deog-Yong, Park Sun-Whan, Park Song A, Jeong Sook-Hyang, Gwack Jin
Division of Infectious Disease Response, Capital Regional Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Seoul, Korea.
Division of Infectious Disease Control, Bureau of Infectious Disease Policy, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Cheongju, Korea.
Osong Public Health Res Perspect. 2023 Feb;14(1):15-22. doi: 10.24171/j.phrp.2022.0305. Epub 2023 Feb 22.
On February 16, 2022, 12 cases of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection were reported in a food manufacturing factory in Korea. The aim of this study was to identify additional cases and to determine the source of this HEV outbreak.
This study was an in-depth investigation of 12 HEV immunoglobulin M (IgM)-positive cases and their demographic, clinical, and epidemiological characteristics. On-site specimens were collected from the environment and from humans, and a follow-up investigation was conducted 2 to 3 months after the outbreak.
Among 80 production workers in the factory, 12 (15.0%) had acute HEV infection, all of whom were asymptomatic. The follow-up investigation showed that 3 cases were HEV IgMpositive, while 6 were HEV IgG-positive. HEV genes were not detected in the HEV IgM-positive specimens. HEV genes were not detected in the food products or environmental specimens collected on-site. HEV was presumed to be the causative pathogen. However, it could not be confirmed that the source of infection was common consumption inside the factory.
This was the first domestic case of an HEV infection outbreak in a food manufacturing factory in Korea. Our results provide information for the future control of outbreaks and for the preparation of measures to prevent domestic outbreaks of HEV infection.
2022年2月16日，韩国一家食品制造厂报告了12例戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）感染病例。本研究的目的是识别更多病例并确定此次戊型肝炎病毒暴发的源头。
本研究对12例戊型肝炎病毒免疫球蛋白M（IgM）阳性病例及其人口统计学、临床和流行病学特征进行了深入调查。从环境和人体采集现场样本，并在疫情暴发后2至3个月进行了随访调查。
在该工厂的80名生产工人中，12人（15.0%）发生急性戊型肝炎病毒感染，所有感染者均无症状。随访调查显示，3例戊型肝炎病毒IgM阳性，6例戊型肝炎病毒IgG阳性。在戊型肝炎病毒IgM阳性样本中未检测到戊型肝炎病毒基因。在现场采集的食品或环境样本中未检测到戊型肝炎病毒基因。推测戊型肝炎病毒为致病病原体。然而，无法确认感染源是工厂内的共同消费。
这是韩国食品制造厂内首例戊型肝炎病毒感染暴发的国内病例。我们的结果为未来疫情控制及制定预防国内戊型肝炎病毒感染暴发的措施提供了信息。
