Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2014/02/news-scan-feb-12-2014
News Scan for Feb 12, 2014
New coronavirus in pigs; Hantavirus outbreak recap; Possible CJD exposure; Beef company shutdown
Filed Under:
Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED); Hantavirus; Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease; BSE; Foodborne Disease; MERS-CoV; VHF; Misc Emerging Topics
Ohio scientists find new coronavirus in pigs
Scientists with the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) have identified a new coronavirus in pigs on four Ohio farms that recently had outbreaks of diarrheal disease, the ODA announced yesterday.
Clinical signs in the swine outbreaks were similar to those of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus and transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) viruses, both of which are coronaviruses, the agency said. But at one of the farms, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for currently circulating PED and TGE viruses were negative, and all the samples tested positive for a new virus.
Both PED virus and the new virus were subsequently found in fecal samples from the other three farms, the agency said.
Genetic sequence analysis of the new virus, discovered by Yan Zhang, DVM, PhD, a virologist with ODA's Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, showed that it is a deltacoronavirus and is distinct from PED and TGE viruses. The virus has been named swine deltacoronavirus (SDCV).
The virus, which is closely related to a coronavirus that was detected in Hong Kong in 2012, can't spread to humans and poses no risk to food safety, the ODA said. It said further study is needed to determine if it causes diarrheal disease in pigs.
The coronavirus group includes several human viruses, among them the SARS coronavirus and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, currently circulating in the Middle East. Last week researchers reported the discovery of a new coronavirus in camels.
Feb 11 ODA press release
Feb 11 CIDRAP News story on new coronavirus in camels
In a related development, the ODA announced that it has sequenced a new PED virus strain that could open the way for a vaccine against the pathogen, which is reported to have killed millions of US pigs?mostly piglets?since its discovery in 2013.
Zhang and colleagues sequenced the new PED strain, which differs from other strains in its spike protein gene. The virus is associated with reduced mortality in piglets, which may enhance its use as a vaccine, the ODA said.
Such a vaccine would be given to sows, which would pass on the immunization to their piglets via nursing, the statement said. This might significantly reduce piglet deaths.
Feb 11 ODA press release
Feb 5 CIDRAP News item about PED virus
Housing type key in 2012 hantavirus outbreak: report
The 10-case hantavirus outbreak in Yosemite National Park in California over the summer of 2012 was tied to a certain type of housing and not to any specific behavior, researchers who wrote the most extensive report yet on the outbreak said today in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Eight of the 10 patients had hantavirus syndrome, of whom 5 required intensive care and ventilator support and 3 died.
Nine of the patients stayed overnight in what Yosemite calls its signature tent cabins, a factor that was significantly (P < 0.001) associated with becoming infected with hantavirus. Investigators found rodent nests and tunnels in the insulation of the cabin walls, and 10 of 73 captured deer mice in the area tested positive for Sin Nombre virus, which was the outbreak strain.
All signature tent cabins were subsequently torn down and replaced with regular tent cabins designed specifically with rodent-proofing features. The authors note that the early closure of the signature tent cabins, before all patients were identified and all data collected, may have prevented further cases.
"Continuous public awareness and rodent control and exclusion are key measures for minimizing the risk for hantavirus infection in areas inhabited by deer mice," the authors conclude.
Feb 12 Emerg Infect Dis report
18 surgery patients in NC may have been exposed to CJD
Eighteen neurosurgery patients at a North Carolina hospital may have been exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) after an earlier patient tested positive, CBS News reported yesterday.
Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., said in a statement that it had performed a procedure on a patient with neurologic symptoms on Jan 18 who afterward tested positive for CJD. The equipment used in the patient's surgery was sterilized but not to the enhanced standards required in CJD cases.
CJD is an incurable brain disease that is typically caused by abnormally folded proteins called prions and typically produces rapid dementia and can lead to death within months. Enhanced sterilization of surgical instruments is required because prions can survive routine operating-room cleaning. All surgical equipment since the infection became known has undergone enhanced sterilization, CBS reported.
"There were reasons to suspect that this patient might have had CJD," the hospital said in the statement. "As such, the extra precautions should have been taken, but were not."
Novant's Jim Lederer, MD, told CBS that the risk of illness to the 18 exposed patients is remote but not nonexistent. CJD affects about 200 Americans each year, the story said.
Feb 11 CBS News report
Novant statement
Beef producer involved in massive recall shuts down
A beef producer that recalled 8.7 million pounds of meat on Feb 8 has halted operations, and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it is investigating the company's facilities, Food Safety News (FSN) reported yesterday.
Rancho Feeding Corp. of Petaluma, Calif., is trying to locate any remaining shipments of beef products made in 2013 through Jan 7, 2014, because the company processed diseased and unsound animals without full federal inspection. The USDA, meanwhile, will initiate an "immediate and thorough" analysis of the company's practices, an agency spokesperson said.
As yet no illnesses have been linked to the company's beef.
Feb 11 FSN story
News Scan for Feb 12, 2014
New coronavirus in pigs; Hantavirus outbreak recap; Possible CJD exposure; Beef company shutdown
Filed Under:
Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED); Hantavirus; Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease; BSE; Foodborne Disease; MERS-CoV; VHF; Misc Emerging Topics
Ohio scientists find new coronavirus in pigs
Scientists with the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) have identified a new coronavirus in pigs on four Ohio farms that recently had outbreaks of diarrheal disease, the ODA announced yesterday.
Clinical signs in the swine outbreaks were similar to those of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus and transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) viruses, both of which are coronaviruses, the agency said. But at one of the farms, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for currently circulating PED and TGE viruses were negative, and all the samples tested positive for a new virus.
Both PED virus and the new virus were subsequently found in fecal samples from the other three farms, the agency said.
Genetic sequence analysis of the new virus, discovered by Yan Zhang, DVM, PhD, a virologist with ODA's Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, showed that it is a deltacoronavirus and is distinct from PED and TGE viruses. The virus has been named swine deltacoronavirus (SDCV).
The virus, which is closely related to a coronavirus that was detected in Hong Kong in 2012, can't spread to humans and poses no risk to food safety, the ODA said. It said further study is needed to determine if it causes diarrheal disease in pigs.
The coronavirus group includes several human viruses, among them the SARS coronavirus and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, currently circulating in the Middle East. Last week researchers reported the discovery of a new coronavirus in camels.
Feb 11 ODA press release
Feb 11 CIDRAP News story on new coronavirus in camels
In a related development, the ODA announced that it has sequenced a new PED virus strain that could open the way for a vaccine against the pathogen, which is reported to have killed millions of US pigs?mostly piglets?since its discovery in 2013.
Zhang and colleagues sequenced the new PED strain, which differs from other strains in its spike protein gene. The virus is associated with reduced mortality in piglets, which may enhance its use as a vaccine, the ODA said.
Such a vaccine would be given to sows, which would pass on the immunization to their piglets via nursing, the statement said. This might significantly reduce piglet deaths.
Feb 11 ODA press release
Feb 5 CIDRAP News item about PED virus
Housing type key in 2012 hantavirus outbreak: report
The 10-case hantavirus outbreak in Yosemite National Park in California over the summer of 2012 was tied to a certain type of housing and not to any specific behavior, researchers who wrote the most extensive report yet on the outbreak said today in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Eight of the 10 patients had hantavirus syndrome, of whom 5 required intensive care and ventilator support and 3 died.
Nine of the patients stayed overnight in what Yosemite calls its signature tent cabins, a factor that was significantly (P < 0.001) associated with becoming infected with hantavirus. Investigators found rodent nests and tunnels in the insulation of the cabin walls, and 10 of 73 captured deer mice in the area tested positive for Sin Nombre virus, which was the outbreak strain.
All signature tent cabins were subsequently torn down and replaced with regular tent cabins designed specifically with rodent-proofing features. The authors note that the early closure of the signature tent cabins, before all patients were identified and all data collected, may have prevented further cases.
"Continuous public awareness and rodent control and exclusion are key measures for minimizing the risk for hantavirus infection in areas inhabited by deer mice," the authors conclude.
Feb 12 Emerg Infect Dis report
18 surgery patients in NC may have been exposed to CJD
Eighteen neurosurgery patients at a North Carolina hospital may have been exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) after an earlier patient tested positive, CBS News reported yesterday.
Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., said in a statement that it had performed a procedure on a patient with neurologic symptoms on Jan 18 who afterward tested positive for CJD. The equipment used in the patient's surgery was sterilized but not to the enhanced standards required in CJD cases.
CJD is an incurable brain disease that is typically caused by abnormally folded proteins called prions and typically produces rapid dementia and can lead to death within months. Enhanced sterilization of surgical instruments is required because prions can survive routine operating-room cleaning. All surgical equipment since the infection became known has undergone enhanced sterilization, CBS reported.
"There were reasons to suspect that this patient might have had CJD," the hospital said in the statement. "As such, the extra precautions should have been taken, but were not."
Novant's Jim Lederer, MD, told CBS that the risk of illness to the 18 exposed patients is remote but not nonexistent. CJD affects about 200 Americans each year, the story said.
Feb 11 CBS News report
Novant statement
Beef producer involved in massive recall shuts down
A beef producer that recalled 8.7 million pounds of meat on Feb 8 has halted operations, and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it is investigating the company's facilities, Food Safety News (FSN) reported yesterday.
Rancho Feeding Corp. of Petaluma, Calif., is trying to locate any remaining shipments of beef products made in 2013 through Jan 7, 2014, because the company processed diseased and unsound animals without full federal inspection. The USDA, meanwhile, will initiate an "immediate and thorough" analysis of the company's practices, an agency spokesperson said.
As yet no illnesses have been linked to the company's beef.
Feb 11 FSN story