Outbreaks of Acute Gastroenteritis Transmitted by Person-to-Person Contact: United States 2009-2010. Morbidity and Mortality Surveillance Summaries, Vol. 61, No. 9.

摘要

Approximately 179 million cases of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) occur in the United States each year, and outbreaks of AGE are a substantial public health problem. Although CDC has conducted national surveillance for waterborne and foodborne AGE outbreaks since 1971 and 1973, respectively, no national surveillance existed for AGE outbreaks resulting primarily from person-to-person transmission before implementation of the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) in 2009. NORS provides the first national data on AGE outbreaks spread primarily through person-to-person transmission and describes the frequency of this mode of transmission. Norovirus is the most commonly reported cause of these outbreaks and, on the basis of epidemiologic characteristics, likely accounts for a substantial portion of the reported outbreaks of unknown etiology. In the United States, sporadic and outbreak-associated norovirus causes an estimated 800 deaths and 70,000 hospitalizations annually, which could increase by an additional 50% during epidemic years. During 2009-2010, norovirus outbreaks accounted for the majority of deaths and health-care visits in person-to-person AGE outbreaks reported to NORS.