Surveillance for outbreaks of gastroenteritis in elderly long-term care facilities in France, November 2010 to May 2012

A S Barret; N Jourdan-da Silva; K Ambert-Balay; G Delmas; A Bone; J M Thiolet; V Vaillant

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES2014.19.29.20859

Surveillance and outbreak reports Open Access

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Surveillance for outbreaks of gastroenteritis in elderly long-term care facilities in France, November 2010 to May 2012
A S Barret¹ , N Jourdan-da Silva¹ , K Ambert-Balay² , G Delmas¹ , A Bone^1,3 , J M Thiolet¹ , V Vaillant¹
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Affiliations: ¹ Institut de Veille Sanitaire, Saint-Maurice, France ² Centre national de référence des virus entériques, Dijon, France ³ European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden

Correspondence:
A Barret
as.barret invs.sante.fr
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Citation style for this article: Barret A S , Jourdan-da Silva N , Ambert-Balay K , Delmas G , Bone A , Thiolet J M , Vaillant V . Surveillance for outbreaks of gastroenteritis in elderly long-term care facilities in France, November 2010 to May 2012 . Euro Surveill. 2014;19(29):pii=20859. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES2014.19.29.20859 Received: 18 Mar 2013

Abstract

This article describes outbreaks of gastroenteritis in elderly long-term care facilities (LTCF) in France from November 2010 to May 2012 reported through the surveillance system for gastroenteritis outbreaks in LTCF. A total of 1,072 outbreaks were reported, causing 26,551 episodes of illness and 60 deaths. The median attack rate (AR) among residents was 32%. Norovirus and person-to-person transmission were the most frequently reported aetiology and mode of transmission. Control measures were implemented in 1,054 (98%) outbreaks and for 928 outbreaks, the timing of such measures could be inferred. Of these, 799 (86%) had put control measures into effect within three days of the occurrence of the first case. Outbreaks of gastroenteritis in LTCF cause substantial morbidity and mortality among elderly people in France. LTCF are encouraged to develop infection prevention and control plans and to notify any gastroenteritis outbreak to health authorities to ensure rapid control.