A foodborne outbreak of sapovirus linked to catered box lunches in Japan

Abstract

Sapovirus (SaV) is a common cause of acute viral gastroenteritis worldwide, and SaV outbreaks have become more frequent in recent years. In January 2010, an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis due to SaV occurred in Aichi, Gifu and Mie Prefectures, Japan. The illness was strongly associated with eating a delivered box lunch prepared by one catering company. In total, 655 (17.1 %) of 3827 individuals developed gastroenteritic symptoms. SaV was detected in seven of the nine people who became ill and in seven of the 52 food handlers at the catering company, but all the tested samples were negative for norovirus and enteropathogenic bacteria. Sequence analysis of RT-PCR products indicated that the nucleotide sequences of SaV strains from the people who became ill and the food handlers were identical. The detected SaV strains were genogrouped as SaV genotype I.2. This was the largest foodborne outbreak of sapovirus in Japan.