PulseNet
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Since 1996,[1] PulseNet is a network, "a collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the US Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service; the US Food and Drug Administration; 4 state public health laboratories; and the Association of Public Health Laboratories",[2] run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which brings together public health and food regulatory agency laboratories around the United States.[3] Through the network, cooperating groups can share next-generation sequencing (NGS) results which act as fingerprints to distinguish strains of organisms such as E. coli (O157:H7 and non O157), Salmonella, Shigella, Listeria, Campylobacter, Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. In this way, efforts to combat infectious disease outbreaks are strengthened. Specifically, by sharing results, it is easier to identify large-scale outbreaks. For example, if an outbreak of E. coli occurred in two distant parts of the country, PulseNet might help prove a link between the two. In such a case, the pathogen would have the same genetic fingerprint at both locations.
History
[edit]In the 1992–1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak, 732 people became sick and 4 of them died after eating food from Jack in the Box restaurants in California, Idaho, Washington, and Nevada. It took 39 days to determine that the infections were related and more than a month to find that E. coli contaminated hamburger was making people sick. Food safety experts and scientists determined that if public health laboratories could each conduct DNA analysis on bacteria and share the data events could be correlated and outbreaks clusters could be identified more quickly.[4]
Other networks
[edit]Due to the success of Pulsenet USA since its inception in 1996, similar networks have been established internationally in Canada (2000), the Asia Pacific (2002), Europe (2003),[5] Latin America (2003),[6] and the Middle East (2006). These networks collaborate under the umbrella of PulseNet International.[7] PulseNet participants use the BioNumerics software suite for database maintenance, tiff image normalization, and analysis and pattern comparisons.[8]
The objectives of PulseNet International are to perform molecular surveillance of foodborne diseases at the global level in order to facilitate international outbreak detection and investigation by partnering with public health laboratories throughout the world and by building capacity for molecular surveillance of foodborne pathogens.
Additionally, the participants collaborate on the development, validation and implementation of internationally standardized subtyping methods to be used in the networks and perform collaborative studies on the geographic distribution and spread of different clones of foodborne pathogens.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ PulseNet. "About". www.cdc.gov. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Archived from the original on 2013-09-11. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
Since 1996, PulseNet has connected foodborne illness cases together, using DNA "fingerprinting" of the bacteria...PulseNet International performs a similar role for worldwide foodborne illnesses.
- ↑ Kubota, Kristy A.; Wolfgang, William J.; Baker, Deborah J.; Boxrud, David; Turner, Lauren; Trees, Eija; Carleton, Heather A.; Gerner-Smidt, Peter (November 2019). "PulseNet and the Changing Paradigm of Laboratory-Based Surveillance for Foodborne Diseases". Public Health Reports. 134 (2_suppl): 22S–28S. doi:10.1177/0033354919881650. PMC 6832030. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
- ↑ "PulseNet". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. October 2021.
- ↑ Campisano, Donna (3 February 2026). "Celebrating 30 Years of PulseNet: How It Detects Disease—and Saves Lives". APHL Blog. Association of Public Health Laboratories. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
- ↑ "PulseNet Europe". PulseNet Europe.
- ↑ "PulseNet Latin America". PulseNet Latin America (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2008-02-24. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
- ↑ "PulseNet International". PulseNet International.
- ↑ Hunter SB, Vauterin P, Lambert-Fair MA, Van Duyne MS, Kubota K, Graves L, Wrigley D, Barrett T, Ribot E (2005). "Establishment of a universal size standard strain for use with the PulseNet standardized pulsed-field gel electrophoresis protocols: converting the national databases to the new size standard". J. Clin. Microbiol. 43 (3): 1045–1050. doi:10.1128/JCM.43.3.1045-1050.2005. PMC 1081233. PMID 15750058.