Norovirus GII.17 Outbreak Linked to an Infected Post-Symptomatic Food Worker in a French Military Unit Located in France

In February 2016, an outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred in a French military unit located in Poitiers, France. Attack rate was of 34% (103/300). A case–control study identified association between illness and cake consumption. Stool samples were tested positive for Norovirus GII.17 for one patient and one post-symptomatic food worker (FW). The FW presented vomiting one day before cake preparation. The NoV strain was probably spread through food worker hand contact. Prevention of Norovirus foodborne outbreaks implies new guidelines for FWs management in France and Europe.     

Beach macro-litter monitoring on southern Baltic beaches: results,experiences and recommendations

Major objectives were to provide a comprehensive dataset on beach macro-litter for parts of the southern Baltic Sea and to analyse if the methodology is fully applicable and a suitable monitoring method in the Baltic. We carried out a regular macro litter beach monitoring (OSPAR methodology, 4 time a year) on 35 beaches along the German and Lithuanian Baltic coast over 2–5 years. Additional experiments addressed the subjectivity of the field surveys and spatio-temporal variability on different scales. We observed no seasonality of the data and a monthly compared to a 3-monthly sampling resulted in 3 times higher annual item numbers. Along the Lithuanian coast, the average number of items per survey varied between 138 and 340 and along the German Baltic coast between 7 and 404, with a median value of 47. All data showed a very high spatio-temporal variability. Using the Matrix Scoring Technique we assessed beach litter sources. With 50% tourism and recreation was the most important source. 3D–transport simulations helped to explain the minor role of shipping as a source and, compared to the North Sea, the low numbers of items on German Baltic beaches. Floating litter had a short duration time in the western Baltic Sea and offshore drift dominated. Further, the common regular beach cleanings reduced the potential for local litter accumulation and translocation. We suggest a monitoring system on 14 Baltic beaches in Germany and 2 in Lithuania and provide cost calculations. The analysis of macro-litter in cormorant nesting material and the search for beached dead animals did not show any result. We can conclude that the macro-litter beach monitoring method is less suitable for Baltic beaches and should only serve as a complementary method in combination with others.