Pebody R G, Leino T, Ruutu P, Kinnunen L, Davidkin I, Nohynek H, Leinikki P
Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
Epidemiol Infect. 1998 Feb;120(1):55-9. doi: 10.1017/s0950268897008340.
This paper describes 2 outbreaks of hepatitis A infection in Finland, a very low endemic area of hepatitis A infection, where a large proportion of the population is now susceptible to infection by hepatitis A virus (HAV). The first outbreak involved people attending several schools and day-care centres; the second employees of several bank branches in a different city. The initial investigation revealed that both were related to food distributed widely from separate central kitchens. Two separate case-control studies implicated imported salad food items as the most likely vehicle of infection. HAV was detected in the stool of cases from both outbreaks using reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; however, comparison of viral genome sequences proved that the viruses were of different origin and hence the outbreaks, although occurring simultaneously, were not linked. Foodborne outbreaks of HAV may represent an increasing problem in populations not immune to HAV.
本文描述了芬兰发生的两起甲型肝炎感染疫情。芬兰是甲型肝炎感染的低流行地区，目前大部分人口对甲型肝炎病毒（HAV）易感。第一起疫情涉及多所学校和日托中心的人员；第二起疫情涉及另一个城市几家银行分行的员工。初步调查显示，两起疫情均与从独立中央厨房广泛分发的食品有关。两项独立的病例对照研究表明，进口沙拉食品是最有可能的感染媒介。使用逆转录酶聚合酶链反应在两起疫情病例的粪便中检测到了HAV；然而，病毒基因组序列比较证明，这些病毒来源不同，因此这两起疫情虽然同时发生，但并无关联。在对HAV无免疫力的人群中，食源性HAV疫情可能是一个日益严重的问题。
