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. 2014 Aug 7;19(31):6-13.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.es2014.19.31.20866.

A multi-country outbreak of Salmonella Newport gastroenteritis in Europe associated with watermelon from Brazil, confirmed by whole genome sequencing: October 2011 to January 2012

L Byrne  1 , I Fisher, T Peters, A Mather, N Thomson, B Rosner, H Bernard, P McKeown, M Cormican, J Cowden, V Aiyedun, C Lane; International Outbreak Control Team
Affiliations

A multi-country outbreak of Salmonella Newport gastroenteritis in Europe associated with watermelon from Brazil, confirmed by whole genome sequencing: October 2011 to January 2012

L Byrne et al. Euro Surveill. .

Abstract

In November 2011, the presence of Salmonella Newport in a ready-to-eat watermelon slice was confirmed as part of a local food survey in England. In late December 2011, cases of S. Newport were reported in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Ireland and Germany. During the outbreak, 63 confirmed cases of S. Newport were reported across all six countries with isolates indistinguishable by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis from the watermelon isolate.A subset of outbreak isolates were whole-genome sequenced and were identical to, or one single nucleotide polymorphism different from the watermelon isolate.In total, 46 confirmed cases were interviewed of which 27 reported watermelon consumption. Further investigations confirmed the outbreak was linked to the consumption of watermelon imported from Brazil.Although numerous Salmonella outbreaks associated with melons have been reported in the United States and elsewhere, this is the first of its kind in Europe.Expansion of the melon import market from Brazil represents a potential threat for future outbreaks. Whole genome sequencing is rapidly becoming more accessible and can provide a compelling level of evidence of linkage between human cases and sources of infection,to support public health interventions in global food markets.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Epidemic curve based on onset weeka of confirmed Salmonella Newport outbreak casesb in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany, 31 October 2011–22 January 2012 (n=61)
a For two cases in Wales and one in England, onset date was not known and specimen date was used. b Excludes one asymptomatic case from Ireland and one German case where neither onset nor specimen date were reported. In total, 61 confirmed cases are included.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Representative pulsed-field gel electrophoresis profile of Salmonella Newport isolates from confirmed outbreak cases (n=4) and the watermelon sample, United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany, 31 October 2011–22 January 2012
Figure 3
Figure 3. Phylogeny of Salmonella Newport isolates from the sliced watermelon, confirmed outbreak cases (n=24) and non-outbreak cases (n=4), United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany, 31 October 2011–22 January 2012
S. Newport cases mapped to reference sequence SL254. Inset: isolates mapped to the assembly of the sequence from the watermelon isolate. Scale bars represent divergence in the number of single nucleotide polymorphisms.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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