Norovirus infections and knowledge, attitudes and practices in food safety among food handlers in an informal urban settlement, Kenya 2017

Details

• Alternative Title:
  BMC Public Health
• Personal Author:
  Wainaina, Eliud ; Otieno, Christina A. ; Kamau, Joseph ; Nyachieo, Atunga ; Lowther, Sara A.
• Description:
  Introduction
  
  A leading cause of acute gastroenteritis, norovirus can be transmitted by infected food handlers but norovirus outbreaks are not routinely investigated in Kenya. We estimated norovirus prevalence and associated factors among food handlers in an informal urban settlement in Nairobi, Kenya.
  
  Methods
  
  We conducted a cross-sectional survey among food handlers using pretested questionnaires and collected stool specimens from food handlers which were analyzed for norovirus by conventional PCR. We observed practices that allow norovirus transmission and surveyed respondents on knowledge, attitudes, and practices in food safety. We calculated odd ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) to identify factors associated with norovirus infection. Variables with p < 0.05 were included in multivariate logistic regression analysis to calculate adjusted OR and 95% CI.
  
  Results
  
  Of samples from 283 respondents, 43 (15.2%) tested positive for norovirus. Factors associated with norovirus detection were: reporting diarrhea and vomiting within the previous month (AOR = 5.7, 95% CI = 1.2–27.4), not knowing aerosols from infected persons can contaminate food (AOR = 6.5, 95% CI = 1.1–37.5), not knowing that a dirty chopping board can contaminate food (AOR = 26.1, 95% CI = 1.6–416.7), observing respondents touching food bare-handed (AOR = 3.7, 95% CI = 1.5–11.1), and working in premises without hand washing services (AOR = 20, 95% CI = 3.4–100.0).
  
  Conclusion
  
  The norovirus infection was prevalent amongst food handlers and factors associated with infection were based on knowledge and practices of food hygiene. We recommend increased hygiene training and introduce more routine inclusion of norovirus testing in outbreaks in Kenya.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult Caliciviridae Infections Cross-Sectional Studies Disease Outbreaks Female Food Handling Food Safety Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Humans Male Middle Aged Young Adult

  More +
• Source:
  BMC Public Health. 20
• Pubmed ID:
  32276622
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC7146951
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  NU2GGH001876-02-00/GH/CGH CDC HHS/United States
• Place as Subject:
  Kenya
• Volume:
  20
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:53340d7b7b0464b58c1fa8ecf0a956cb0f12c4a570e232ac488f7ec301eef152
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/93755/cdc_93755_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 535.47 KB ]