ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella bredeney. DESIGN: Case interviews followed by an age and neighbourhood matched case control study. PARTICIPANTS: People with laboratory-confirmed S. bredeney and controls matched on age and geographical location in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and Victoria. RESULTS: We identified 157 persons with S. bredeney spread throughout the eastern states and the ACT. In the matched analysis, cold meat and chicken demonstrated a significant odds ratio of 4.4 (p = 0.017) and 4.2 (p = 0.02) respectively. Among primary cases, the odds ratio for chicken was 6.0 (p = 0.01) and for ground pepper was 3.75 (p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: The most likely source of this outbreak was a product contaminated at the point of manufacture and distributed widely within NSW and the ACT and, to a lesser extent, Queensland (Brisbane) and Melbourne. The most probable food is a meat or chicken product, followed by substantial cross contamination of other meat products at retail outlets, which served to amplify the outbreak.
Subject(s)
Disease Outbreaks/prevention & control , Meat/microbiology , Salmonella Food Poisoning/etiology , Salmonella Food Poisoning/prevention & control , Salmonella/classification , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Animals , Case-Control Studies , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , Middle Aged , New South Wales/epidemiology , Odds Ratio , Population Surveillance , Poultry , Queensland/epidemiology , Salmonella Food Poisoning/epidemiology , Serotyping , Surveys and Questionnaires , Victoria/epidemiologyABSTRACT
We have determined the complete nucleotide sequence of the human immunoglobulin D segment locus on chromosome 14q32.3 and identified a total of 27 D segments, of which nine are new. Comparison with a database of rearranged heavy chain sequences indicates that the human antibody repertoire is created by VDJ recombination involving 25 of these 27 D segments, extensive processing at the V-D and D-J junctions and use of multiple reading frames. We could find no evidence for the proposed use of DIR segments, inverted D segments, "minor" D segments or D-D recombination. Conventional VDJ recombination, which obeys the 12/23 rule, is therefore sufficient to explain the wealth of lengths and sequences for the third hypervariable loop of human heavy chains.
Subject(s)
Chromosomes, Human, Pair 14 , Immunoglobulin D/genetics , Recombination, Genetic , Base Sequence , Chromosome Mapping , Evolution, Molecular , Germ Cells , Humans , Immunoglobulin Joining Region/genetics , Immunoglobulin Variable Region/genetics , Molecular Sequence Data , Open Reading FramesABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to determine the health risks of swimming at ocean beaches in Sydney, Australia. METHODS: From people attending 12 Sydney beaches in the period from December 5, 1989 to February 26, 1990, we recruited a cohort of 8413 adults who agreed to participate in this study. Of these, 4424 were excluded either because they had been swimming in the previous 5 days or because they reported a current illness. Of the remainder, 2839 successfully completed a follow-up telephone interview conducted within 10 days after recruitment. We recorded reported respiratory, gastrointestinal, eye, and ear symptoms and fever that occurred within the 10 days between initial interview on the beach and the follow-up interview. RESULTS: A total of 683 participants (24.0%) reported experiencing symptoms in the 10 days following initial interview. Of these, 435 (63.7%) reported respiratory symptoms. Swimmers were almost twice as likely as nonswimmers to report symptoms. There was a linear relationship between water pollution and all reported symptoms with the exception of gastrointestinal complaints. CONCLUSIONS: Swimmers at Sydney ocean beaches are more likely to report respiratory, ear, and eye symptoms than beachgoers who do not swim. The incidence of these symptoms increases slightly with increasing levels of pollution.
