Abstract
BackgroundNoroviruses (NVs) are an important cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) worldwide. There are limited data on the prevalence and molecular characterization of NVs in children in Hohhot, China.MethodsBetween January 2012 and December 2017, 1863 stool samples were collected at Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Hohhot. All samples were screened for NVs by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR).ResultsNVs were detected in 24.15% of these inpatient cases, ranging from 12.78 to 32.92% in different years. NV was detected throughout the year, with a peak in winter. Based on sequence analysis of the partial VP1 gene, the 306 identified NV strains were divided into six genotypes: GII.3 (71.24%), GII.4 (23.53%), and GII.2, GII.5, GII.6, and GII.13 (total 5.23%). Based on further sequence analysis of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), GII.P12/GII.3, GII.Pe/GII.4, and GII.P4/GII.4 were identified as predominant genotypes, accounting for 92.6% of genotyped strains. The median age of the children with NV infection was 8.0 (range 0–59) months. However, children infected with GII.3 were younger (median 7.0 months) than GII.4-positive patients (median 10.0 months).ConclusionNV contributed greatly to AGE among hospitalized children in Hohhot in China. Continuous surveillance is important for understanding the local prevalence and characterization of NV.
Highlights
Noroviruses (NVs) are an important cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) worldwide
Six nonstructural proteins are encoded by ORF1, such as p28, VPg, 3CLpro, and the structural proteins are encoded by ORF2 (VP1) and ORF3 (VP2) to form the capsid of NVs. [7]
Specimen collection Between January 2012 and December 2017, 1863 fecal samples were collected from children younger than 5 years admitted to Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Hohhot with acute gastroenteritis (AGE)
Summary
Noroviruses (NVs) are an important cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) worldwide. NVs are a leading cause of epidemic gastroenteritis [1], responsible for at least 90% of all non-bacterial gastroenteritis cases and 50% of all gastroenteritis outbreaks worldwide [2, 3]. Human beings are the major host to genogroups GI, GII, and GIV NVs, other genogroups NV are mainly infected with animals. The epidemic of human acute gastroenteritis are mainly caused by GI or GII NVs [8, 10] and the recombination between ORF1 and ORF2 [11], antigenic variation of P domain of VP1 [12] are contributed to generate novel NV strains. The emerging of NVs leading to the epidemic of human acute gastroenteritis in the worldwide,at it is important to determine both the capsid and RdRp genotypes for strain characterization
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