Sun-dried tomatoes linked to hepatitis A outbreak

Sun-dried tomatoes linked to hepatitis A outbreak

Officials are on the alert for further cases. But they say they do not know which brands of sun-dried tomatoes might be involved. This is because there is no reliable test to find the virus in food.

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Detect and identify Hepatitis A Virus in Food samples with
Assay Hepatitis A @ceeramTools^™

Catalogue References :
Kit Hepatitis A (assay) KHHAV for Clinical samples
Kit Hepatits A (assay) KHAV for Food & Environmental samples

acute or fulminant hepatitis

Hepatitis A virus is a non-enveloped single strand RNA virus. The delay of incubation is around one month. The severity of the clinical signs increases with the going age of asymptomatic case in the young children (< 6 years old) with cases of acute or fulminant hepatitis. The transmission via the fecal-oral route is the most usual although other ways of transmission such as parental, sexual, salivary or urinary exist. There is no specific curative treatment but a vaccine is available.

Food poisoning

After excretion in human stool, due to their structural properties, hepatitis A virus can resist to different physical and chemical treatments. Adsorbed on particles, they can survive in different kind of environment for a long period. Food can be contaminated by a food-handler during the various stages of food production or via the environment. Thanks to their structural properties, hepatitis A viruses can persit to different food processes. The consumption of contaminated food can lead to epidemics in the population.

real time RT-PCR method

The diagnostic by cellular culture or ELISA is not adapted to the detection of Hepatitis A virus in environmental or food samples. Molecular techniques (real time RT-PCR) are the methods of choice for Hepatitis A detection after extraction and viral RNA purification from the sample.

CeeramTools Molecular Detection System (Test Kits) also available for :

MengoVirus Kit -­ Rotavirus Kit -­ Enterorivus Kit -­ Astrovirus Kit -­ Adenovirus Kit -­ Giardia Kit - AichiVirus Kit - Circovirus Kit - Brachyspira Kit -­ Norovirus GI Kit - Norovirus GII Kit - Cryptosporidium Kit - HepatitisE Virus Kit - SapoVirus Kit - Vibrio Kit