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Volume 26, Number 8—August 2020
Research

CrAssphage as a Novel Tool to Detect Human Fecal Contamination on Environmental Surfaces and Hands

Geun Woo ParkComments to Author , Terry Fei Fan Ng, Amy L. Freeland, Vincent C. Marconi, Julie A. Boom, Mary A. Staat, Anna Maria Montmayeur, Hannah Browne, Jothikumar Narayanan, Daniel C. Payne, Cristina V. Cardemil, Aimee Treffiletti, and Jan Vinjé
Author affiliations: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (G.W. Park, T.F.F. Ng, A.L. Freeland, J. Narayanan, D.C. Payne, C.V. Cardemil, A. Treffiletti, J. Vinjé); Atlanta Veteran Administration Medical Center, Atlanta (V.C. Marconi); Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta (V.C. Marconi); Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, Texas, USA (J.A. Boom); Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA (M.A. Staat); Cherokee Nation Assurance, Arlington, Virginia, USA (A.M. Montmayeur); Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA (H. Browne)

Main Article

Table 2

Prevalence of crAssphage in stool samples from norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships and in long-term care facilities and healthy controls without acute gastroenteritis

Setting (no. samples) Age, y, (range) % CrAssphage (no. positive/no. tested) crAssphage titer (range)*
Cruise ship voyages† (5) 65.5 (29–88) 76.7% (23/30) 4.5 (3.2–8.9)
Long-term care facilities‡ (12) 63.5 (18–87) 63.3% (19/30) 5.4 (2.8–8.9)
Adults without acute gastroenteritis (96) 59.0 (28–83) 48% (46/96) 8.1 (3.1–10.3)
Children without acute gastroenteritis (77) 1.1 (0.2–5.0) 68.8% (53/77) 8.4 (4.1–10.1)

*log10 genomic copies per gram of stool sample.
†This study.
‡Park et al. (26).

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