Unexplained Illnesses Associated With a Subscription Meal Service, 2022.

In recent years, shifting consumer demands have led to changes in the types of foods produced and how consumers obtain them. A growing demand for non-meat-based proteins has led to the development of new plant-based protein products. Simultaneously, there has been an increase in subscription-based meal services.

Establishing an early warning event management system at Africa CDC.

Africa is home to hotspots of disease emergence and re-emergence. To adequately detect and respond to these health threats, early warning systems inclusive of event-based surveillance (EBS) are needed. However, data systems to manage these events are not readily available.

Minnesota Public Health Corps: A New Model For Building The Governmental Public Health Workforce.

Governmental public health agencies in the US are understaffed, and ongoing shortages will have a detrimental effect on their ability to provide basic public health services and protections. Public Health AmeriCorps was established in 2022 to support efforts to create a stronger and more diverse public health workforce nationwide. The Minnesota Public Health Corps, one of the largest Public Health AmeriCorps models, is a capacity-building program that places AmeriCorps members directly into governmental public health settings across the state.

Digitalizing disease surveillance: experience from Sierra Leone.

The Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) system was adopted by the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health (MOH) in 2008, which was based on paper-based tools for health data recording and reporting from health facilities to the national level. The Sierra Leone MoH introduced the implementation of electronic case-based disease surveillance reporting of immediately notifiable diseases. This study aims to document and describe the experience of Sierra Leone in transforming her paper-based disease surveillance system into an electronic disease surveillance system.

Developing a risk management framework to improve public health outcomes by enumerating and serotyping in ground turkey.

continues to be a leading cause of foodborne morbidity worldwide. A quantitative risk assessment model was developed to evaluate the impact of pathogen enumeration and serotyping strategies on public health after consumption of undercooked contaminated ground turkey in the USA. The risk assessment model predicted more than 20,000 human illnesses annually that would result in ~700 annual reported cases.

Bioinformatics and functional selection of GH77 4-α-glucanotransferases for potato starch modification.

4-α-glucanotransferases (4αGTs, EC 2.4.1.

Foodborne Illness Complaint Systems Detect, and Restaurant Inspection Programs Prevent Restaurant-Associated Foodborne Illness Outbreaks.

Restaurants are important settings for foodborne illness transmission. Environmental health agencies routinely inspect restaurants to assess compliance with food safety regulations. They also evaluate foodborne illness complaints from consumers to detect potential outbreaks of foodborne illness.

The Legionella autoinducer LAI-1 is delivered by outer membrane vesicles to promote interbacterial and interkingdom signaling.

Legionella pneumophila is an environmental bacterium, which replicates in amoeba but also in macrophages, and causes a life-threatening pneumonia called Legionnaires' disease. The opportunistic pathogen employs the α-hydroxy-ketone compound Legionella autoinducer-1 (LAI-1) for intraspecies and interkingdom signaling. LAI-1 is produced by the autoinducer synthase Legionella quorum sensing A (LqsA), but it is not known, how LAI-1 is released by the pathogen.

Morphological subprofile analysis for bioactivity annotation of small molecules.

Fast prediction of the mode of action (MoA) for bioactive compounds would immensely foster bioactivity annotation in compound collections and may early on reveal off-targets in chemical biology research and drug discovery. Morphological profiling, e.g.

Demographic, social, and behavioral correlates of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity in a representative, population-based study of Minnesota residents.

Background: Monitoring COVID-19 infection risk in the general population is a public health priority. Few studies have measured seropositivity using representative, probability samples. The present study measured seropositivity in a representative population of Minnesota residents prior to vaccines and assess the characteristics, behaviors, and beliefs of the population at the outset of the pandemic and their association with subsequent infection.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in a Population-Based Study of Minnesota Residents.

COVID-19 continues to be a public health concern in the United States. Although safe and effective vaccines have been developed, a significant proportion of the US population has not received a COVID-19 vaccine. This cross-sectional study aimed to describe the demographics and behaviors of Minnesota adults who have not received the primary series of the COVID-19 vaccine, or the booster shot using data from the Minnesota COVID-19 Antibody Study (MCAS) collected through a population-based sample between September and December 2021.

Use of Online Consumer Complaint Forms to Enhance Complaint-Based Surveillance for Foodborne Illness Outbreaks in Minnesota.

Foodborne illness complaint systems that collect consumer reports of illness following exposure at a food establishment or event are a primary tool for detecting outbreaks of foodborne illness. Approximately, 75% of outbreaks reported to the national Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System are detected through foodborne illness complaints. The Minnesota Department of Health added an online complaint form to their existing statewide foodborne illness complaint system in 2017.

Dephosphocholination by Legionella effector Lem3 functions through remodelling of the switch II region of Rab1b.

Bacterial pathogens often make use of post-translational modifications to manipulate host cells. Legionella pneumophila, the causative agent of Legionnaires disease, secretes the enzyme AnkX that uses cytidine diphosphate-choline to post-translationally modify the human small G-Protein Rab1 with a phosphocholine moiety at Ser76. Later in the infection, the Legionella enzyme Lem3 acts as a dephosphocholinase, hydrolytically removing the phosphocholine.

Quantitative Risk Assessment of Salmonella in Ground Beef Products and the Resulting Impact of Risk Mitigation Strategies on Public Health.

Salmonellosis incidence rates have not declined over the last 15 years in the US despite a significant Salmonella prevalence reduction in meat and poultry products. Ground beef is currently regulated using only qualitative Salmonella criteria, and Salmonella enumeration values have been proposed as an alternative for implementing risk-based mitigation strategies to prevent illnesses. The purpose of this study was to develop a quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) model to estimate the annual number of salmonellosis cases attributable to the consumption of ground beef contaminated with Salmonella and investigate the impact of risk management strategies on public health.

Practice and Progress: Updates on Outbreaks, Advances in Research, and Processing Technologies for Low-moisture Food Safety.

Large, renowned outbreaks associated with low-moisture foods (LMFs) bring to light some of the potential, inherent risks that accompany foods with long shelf lives if pathogen contamination occurs. Subsequently, in 2013, Beuchat et al. (2013) noted the increased concern regarding these foods, specifically noting examples of persistence and resistance of pathogens in low-water activity foods (LWAFs), prevalence of pathogens in LWAF processing environments, and sources of and preventive measures for contamination of LWAFs.

Enzymatic potato starch modification and structure-function analysis of six diverse GH77 4-alpha-glucanotransferases.

4-α-glucanotransferase (EC 2.4.1.

Sugar Modification of Wall Teichoic Acids Determines Serotype-Dependent Strong Biofilm Production in Listeria monocytogenes.

Biofilm production is responsible for persistent food contamination by Listeria monocytogenes, threatening food safety and public health. Human infection and food contamination with L. monocytogenes are caused primarily by serotypes 1/2a, 1/2b, and 4b.

Quantitative risk assessment model to investigate the public health impact of varying Listeria monocytogenes allowable levels in different food commodities: A retrospective analysis.

Invasive listeriosis is a potentially fatal foodborne disease that according to this study may affect up to 32.9 % of the US population considered as increased risk and including people with underlying conditions and co-morbidities. Listeria monocytogenes has been scrutinized in research and surveillance programs worldwide in Ready-to-Eat (RTE) food commodities (RTE salads, deli meats, soft/semi-soft cheese, seafood) and frozen vegetables in the last 30 years with an estimated overall prevalence of 1.

Improving Foodborne Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Detection and Response Using Peer Networks-The Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence.

Context: Foodborne disease surveillance and outbreak investigations are foundational to the prevention and control of foodborne disease in the United States, where contaminated foods cause an estimated 48 million illnesses, 128 000 hospitalizations, and 3000 deaths each year. Surveillance activities and rapid detection and investigation of foodborne disease outbreaks require a trained and coordinated workforce across epidemiology, environmental health, and laboratory programs.

Program: Under the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was called on to establish Integrated Food Safety (IFS) Centers of Excellence (CoEs) at state health departments, which would collaborate with academic partners, to identify, implement, and evaluate model practices in foodborne disease surveillance and outbreak response and to serve as a resource for public health professionals.

COVID-19 vaccine confidence and reasons for vaccination among health care workers and household members.

Background: The majority of healthcare workers (HCW) in the US report being fully vaccinated against COVID-19, yet little is known about vaccine decision-making for their household members, including children.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey July-August 2021 of HCW and their household members in Minnesota.

Results: 94 % of eligible participants were vaccinated with the most common reasons being wanting to protect oneself, family and loved ones.