Abstract
Reports of norovirus infections associated with the consumption of contaminated bivalve molluscan shellfish negatively impact both consumers and commercial shellfish operators. Current virus recovery and PCR detection methods can be expensive and time consuming. Due to the lack of rapid, user-friendly and onsite/infield methods, it has been difficult to establish an effective virus monitoring regime that is able to identify contamination points across the production line (i.e., farm-to-plate) to ensure shellfish quality. The focus of this review is to evaluate current norovirus detection methods and discuss emerging approaches. Recent advances in omics-based detection approaches have the potential to identify novel biomarkers that can be incorporated into rapid detection kits for onsite use. Furthermore, some omics techniques have the potential to simultaneously detect multiple enteric viruses that cause human disease. Other emerging technologies discussed include microfluidic, aptamer and biosensor-based detection methods developed to detect norovirus with high sensitivity from a simple matrix. Many of these approaches have the potential to be developed as user-friendly onsite detection kits with minimal costs. However, more collaborative efforts on research and development will be required to commercialize such products. Once developed, these emerging technologies could provide a way forward that minimizes public health risks associated with shellfish consumption.
Highlights
Human fecal contamination from sewage discharge, septic tank leaks/overflows, recreational activities and storm water runoff are major sources of norovirus contamination in coastal waters [1]
Another advantage of Digital PCR (dPCR)/droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) over qPCR is that it is reported to give more accurate quantification and is less prone to inhibitors that may be present in nucleic acid extracted from shellfish, even after purification
Combining the Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) enhancement, intensity of auto-fluorescence, and excitation efficiency of quantum dots, the single-to-noise ratio was optimized to increase the sensitivity of the sandwich assay for the detection of norovirus virus-like particles (VLPs) from phosphate buffered saline (PBS)
Summary
Human fecal contamination from sewage discharge, septic tank leaks/overflows, recreational activities and storm water runoff are major sources of norovirus contamination in coastal waters (i.e., shellfish growing areas) [1]. An alternative method to recover norovirus (and hepatitis A virus) from shellfish was developed that utilized the proteinase K enzyme to release the viruses from shellfish digestive tissue [22,35] This method is simple, can be completed in a few hours and does not include a virus concentration step. Despite reducing the time for sample preparation, the proteinase K digestion method has the potential to inactivate norovirus during the recovery process as the enzyme activity relies on a 65 ◦ C heat treatment [37] This approach may not be suitable for the downstream determination of virus infectivity, which is essential when trying to measure the potential public health risk associated with shellfish consumption. Further research should focus on improving the recovery efficiency of norovirus from shellfish with minimal impact on infectivity
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