Natural Norovirus Infections in Rhesus Macaques.

Tibor Farkas

doi:10.3201/eid2207.151740

Abstract

Highlights

Using a recently developed real-time reverse transcription PCR, I retested 500 fecal samples from rhesus macaques collected in 2008
A previous study reported the molecular detection of a GII norovirus in 1 of 500 rhesus macaques tested [11]
This detection rate was extremely low (0.2%), the finding indicated the occurrence of natural norovirus infections in colony macaques

Summary

Tibor Farkas

Using a recently developed real-time reverse transcription PCR, I retested 500 fecal samples from rhesus macaques collected in 2008. Previous conventional reverse transcription PCR testing identified 1 isolate of GII norovirus; retesting found GI, GII, and possible GIV noroviruses in the samples, indicating the natural circulation of noroviruses in nonhuman primate colonies. Of the 500 samples, 41 (8.2%) showed a cycle threshold (Ct) lower than the assay’s cutoff value These positive samples included 30 (6%) GI (Ct 29.60–39.98), 8 (1.6%) GII (Ct 32.96–38.76), and 3 (0.6%) GIV (Ct 38.30–39.88) noroviruses. The viral load in the GI (mean 3.2 × 106 copies/g) and GII (mean 7.5 × 104 copies/g) norovirus-positive samples were in the range reported for human fecal samples [13]. A quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) for the detection of GI, GII, and GIV noroviruses was developed [12]. In 2015, I used this highly specific and sensitive assay to retest the 500 rhesus macaque fecal samples from the Author affiliation: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Norovirus Infections in Rhesus Macaques

Findings

Conclusions