A foodborne outbreak of Staphylococcus aureus associated with fried chicken in Republic of Korea.

An outbreak of Staphylococcus aureus infections occurred in a university with an enrollment of 80 students in the city of Daejon, Republic of Korea. All nine S. aureus isolates from patients (n = 7), staff members (n = 1), and the fried chicken served as the lunch (n = 1) harbored the enterotoxin A gene and showed an identical antibioticresistant profile, PFGE banding pattern (STAS16.001), and sequence type, ST 6. These results suggested that the outbreak was associated with eating the fried chicken that had been handled by an infected staff member. This case report demonstrated a practical approach to identifying the source and transmission of an infection.

Evaluation of a new immunochromatographic assay kit for the rapid detection of norovirus in fecal specimens.

Rapid and accurate detection of norovirus is essential for the prevention and control of norovirus outbreaks. This study compared the effectiveness of a new immunochromatographic assay kit (SD BIOLINE Norovirus; Standard Diagnostics, Korea) and real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) for detecting norovirus in fecal specimens. Compared with real-time RT-PCR, the new assay had sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of 76.5% (52/68), 99.7% (342/343), 98.1% (52/53), and 95.5% (342/358), respectively. The sensitivity of the assay was 81.8% (18/22) for GII.3 and 75.7% (28/37) for GII.4. None of the 38 enteric virus-positive specimens (3 for astrovirus, 5 for enteric adenovirus, and 30 for rotavirus) tested positive in the cross-reactivity test performed by using this assay. The new immunochromatographic assay may be a useful screening tool for the rapid detection of norovirus in sporadic and outbreak cases; however, negative results may require confirmatory assays of greater sensitivity.