-Caveat Lector- >From http://www2.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=511&sid=1099899
}}}>Begin Swiss time 23:44, Monday 15.04.2002 Bottled water contamination claim Mineral water is marketed for its purity [Keystone Archive] Swiss scientists say that some brands of mineral water may be contaminated with human faeces. Audio / Video / Links In 11 of 29 European brands of bottled mineral water, Christian Beuret and his colleagues at the cantonal food laboratory in Solothurn found signs of the virus that causes more than 90% of the world's stomach disorders. The virus is called Norwalk-like virus or NLV. "We didn't believe the results at first, so we got them independently confirmed by a private Swiss lab," Beuret told Nature Science Update, the online news service of the science journal, Nature. "We think human faeces are sporadically contaminating the water either at the source or some time during the bottling procedure." The team does not yet know how this might be occurring. It is also not known whether the water poses a health risk though evidence suggests that low levels of the virus in mineral water may give some elderly people gastroenteritis. Contaminated technique The mineral water industry warned that the technique used by Beuret's team, called RT-PCR, is prone to contamination. "The RT-PCR technique is not suited to the routine analysis of potentially very weakly contaminated water," a leading company that markets bottled water told Nature Science Update. NLV's genome is made of single-stranded RNA. In the mineral water, Beuret's team detected RNA sequences, which are commonly found in the faeces of people infected with NLV. After a year, nine out of ten virus-containing bottles were still contaminated. The length of time suggests that an envelope of proteins surrounds the virus protecting its RNA. These proteins also make the virus infectious. Strains lie dormant NLV RNA has been spotted in healthy people suggesting some strains may lie dormant in the body without causing disease. Tamie Ando studies viral gastroenteritis at the national centre for infectious diseases in the United States. "Although we don't know whether the strains found in the mineral water are dangerous, the work is very important because we need to learn how our environment has been contaminated by these viruses,” Ando told Nature Science Update. The announcement follows two separate studies, published in different scientific journals. Two years ago, in the Journal of Food Protection, Beuret’s team looked at mineral waters imported into or bottled in Switzerland. The latest study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology monitored three brands over a year. swissinfo 09.04.2002 - 23:41 Audio / Video / Links swissinfo: Swiss researchers say bottled water may be money down the drain Facts about Norwalk-like viruses Norwalk-virus infection End<{{{ >From http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/fact/norwalkv.htm }}}>Begin Norwalk-like Viruses November 28, 1997 Contact: Media Relations Division (404) 6393286 Norwalk viruses (and related caliciviruses) are important causes of sporadic and epidemic gastrointestinal disease in the United States. An estimated 181,000 cases occur annually. Viral gastroenteritis due to caliciviruses has been associated with eating contaminated oysters. Oysters can become contaminated before harvest or during preparation. Water and ice are other sources of infection. Symptoms of Norwalk virus infection include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. Headache and low-grade fever may also occur. Persons with this infection usually recover within 2-3 days without serious or long-term health effects. Shellfish become contaminated via infected fecal matter from sick food handlers, or by the practice of some harvesters and/ or recreational boaters of dumping raw sewage overboard. (Note: the only source of calicivirus is feces from sick persons.) Since 1993, three oyster-related gastroenteritis outbreaks, attributed to calicivirus, have been documented in Louisiana. In 1993, 73 persons in Louisiana and about 130 others in the United States who ate oysters from Louisiana became ill. A malfunctioning sewage system was the cause of an outbreak in 1996. The current outbreak implicates sewage from oyster harvesting vessels as the probable source. Oyster-related outbreaks probably will continue to occur until seafood regulators and the oyster industry develop and enforce standards for proper disposal of human sewage. Food handlers with symptoms of Norwalk-like illness should limit contact with other persons and be excluded from food handling and preparation. Media Home | Contact Us CDC Home | Search | Health Topics A-Z This page last reviewed Friday, 25 February 2000 14:36:48 GMT- 0600 (Central Standard Time) URL: http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/fact/norwalkv.htm End<{{{ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded as information only; no automatic endorsement + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. 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