Press Release
Source: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
Tuesday April 11, 8:01 am ET
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–April 11, 2006–The prevention and control of foodborne infections in the U.S. has improved significantly since the initiation of PulseNet, a nationwide program that enables the rapid analysis and comparison of DNA “fingerprints” of foodborne pathogens, as described in a series of reports in the Spring 2006 Special Issue (Volume 3, Number 1) of Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The issue is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/fpd.
PulseNet is a national network of public health and food regulatory agency laboratories, coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The network performs standardized molecular subtyping (or DNA fingerprinting) of foodborne disease-causing bacteria using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). PFGE is a sensitive means of separating DNA and detecting patterns, or fingerprints that can be stored in a database and rapidly searched to distinguish between strains of disease-causing organisms, such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Shigella, Listeria, and Campylobacter.
PulseNet is transforming public health and surveillance efforts to detect and investigate outbreaks of foodborne infection, identify the causative agent, and institute control and containment measures at an earlier stage. This interactive network and national database allows public health officials to track and compare outbreaks in multiple states or regions and to determine whether they represent a single large, but dispersed, outbreak and to trace the source of the pathogen.Continue Reading Success of CDC’s PulseNet Program for ‘Fingerprinting’ Disease-Causing Bacteria in Food Is Described in a Special Issue of Foodborne Pathogens and Disease