Ongoing multi-strain food-borne hepatitis A outbreak with frozen berries as suspected vehicle: four Nordic countries affected, October 2012 to April 2013

S Gillesberg Lassen; B Soborg; S E Midgley; A Steens; L Vold; K Stene-Johansen; R Rimhanen-Finne; M Kontio; M Löfdahl; L Sundqvist; M Edelstein; T Jensen; H T Vestergaard; T K Fischer; K Mølbak; S Ethelberg

doi:10.2807/ese.18.17.20467-en

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Ongoing multi-strain food-borne hepatitis A outbreak with frozen berries as suspected vehicle: four Nordic countries affected, October 2012 to April 2013
S Gillesberg Lassen ¹ , B Soborg ^1,2 , S E Midgley³ , A Steens^2,4 , L Vold⁴ , K Stene-Johansen⁵ , R Rimhanen-Finne⁶ , M Kontio⁶ , M Löfdahl⁷ , L Sundqvist⁷ , M Edelstein^2,8 , T Jensen⁹ , H T Vestergaard³ , T K Fischer³ , K Mølbak¹ , S Ethelberg^1,10
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Affiliations: ¹ Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark ² European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden ³ Department of Microbiological Diagnostics and Virology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark ⁴ Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway ⁵ Department of Virology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway ⁶ Department of Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland ⁷ Department of Preparedness, Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control, Stockholm, Sweden ⁸ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control, Stockholm, Sweden ⁹ The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, Copenhagen, Denmark ¹⁰ Department of Microbiology and Infection Control, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark

Correspondence:
S Gillesberg Lassen
sogl ssi.dk
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Citation style for this article: Gillesberg Lassen S, Soborg B, Midgley S E, Steens A, Vold L, Stene-Johansen K, Rimhanen-Finne R, Kontio M, Löfdahl M, Sundqvist L, Edelstein M, Jensen T, Vestergaard H T, Fischer T K, Mølbak K, Ethelberg S. Ongoing multi-strain food-borne hepatitis A outbreak with frozen berries as suspected vehicle: four Nordic countries affected, October 2012 to April 2013. Euro Surveill. 2013;18(17):pii=20467. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.18.17.20467-en Received: 22 Apr 2013

Abstract

A food-borne outbreak of hepatitis A in Denmark was notified to other countries on 1 March 2013. A case-control study identified frozen berries eaten in smoothies as potential vehicle. In the following weeks, Finland, Norway and Sweden also identified an increased number of hepatitis A patients without travel history. Most cases reported having eaten frozen berries at the time of exposure. By 17 April, 71 cases were notified in the four countries. No specific type of berry, brand or origin of berries has yet been identified. .