Implications of Foodborne Infectious Hepatitis

Abstract

IN REVIEWING the roles of milk and water in the dissemination of viruses and rickettsia in¬ fectious for humans, Brown (1) concluded that only the virus of infectious hepatitis was spread in this fashion to any significant extent.More recent reviews by Berg (2) and by Lemon (3) have suggested that food might serve as a ve¬ hicle for a variety of viruses.Among reported foodborne outbreaks of virus disease, however, infectious hepatitis predominates by a consider¬ able margin.The following discussion at¬ tempts to relate what is known of infectious hepatitis that is germane to its transmission in foods to the more general question of foodborne viruses.Infectious hepatitis is a distinct clinical en¬ tity, although Havens (4) stated that it was not generally recognized as such until the time of World War II.It has been reportable through¬ out the United States since 1954.Differential Location of outbreak * Dates of onset Number exposed Number infected East Lothian, Scotland (8).Cleveland, Ohio (9)_ Forsyth, Ga. (10)_