ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the management of gastrointestinal and hepatic illnesses transmitted through food and water. It considers both public health issues as well as the treatment of affected individuals. Changes in dietary practices and preferences play a role in foodborne illness. Foodborne viral pathogens of the human gastrointestinal tract include Norwalk and related small round structured viruses that share similar morphology, protein structure, and nucleic acid composition, as well as other human caliciviruses, astroviruses, and rotaviruses. Shellfish contaminated with Norwalk and related viruses have most frequently been the source of large foodborne outbreaks in the United States and abroad. Food and water are the means through which numerous viruses causing gastroenteritis and hepatitis are transmitted. Severe illness and a significant mortality rate are associated with acute gastroenteritis in these countries. Hepatitis E virus is a recently identified enterically transmitted agent that causes hepatitis. Hepatitis E virus is transmitted by the fecal-oral route.
