ABSTRACT
Human enteric viruses are now recognized as significant causes of foodborne illness (1–3), recently ranked as fifth and sixth among identified causes of foodborne disease in the United States (4). Additional data indicate that foodborne disease outbreaks of unconfirmed etiology frequently meet some of the clinical criteria for outbreaks of acute viral gastroenteritis (1–3). The apparent failure to confirm a viral etiology in such outbreaks has been due largely to the lack of available tests and the reluctance of public health officials to use epidemiological criteria in the classification of foodborne viral disease (1,2,5,6). The unavailability of food specimens and the failure to report outbreaks of mild gastrointestinal (GI) disease has also contributed to reporting difficulties. All of these 138factors have resulted in a drastic underestimate of the true scope and significance of food-borne viral infection (3).
