Emergence of the GII4/2006b variant and recombinant noroviruses in China

✍ Scribed by Miao Jin; Hua-ping Xie; Zhao-jun Duan; Na Liu; Qing Zhang; Bing-shan Wu; Hui-ying Li; Wei-xia Cheng; Su-hua Yang; Jie-mei Yu; Zi-qian Xu; Shu-xian Cui; Lin Zhu; Ming Tan; Xi Jiang; Zhao-yin Fang

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 176 KB
• Volume: 80
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.21308

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Noroviruses are an important cause of acute gastroenteritis. Increasing data showed that the GII‐4 strains are predominant worldwide and new GII‐4 variants emerge every 1–2 years causing major epidemics. Surveillance of gastroenteritis in hospitalized children under 5 years of age in China is described. Among 1,110 specimens, 114 (10.3%) were positive for noroviruses, which was higher than adenoviruses (7.6%), astroviruses (3.5%), and sapoviruses (0.9%) and only lower than group A rotaviruses (40.6%). Thirty‐eight of the 114 positive norovirus cases were co‐infected with other enteric viruses. Five norovirus genotypes (GI‐2, GI‐4, GII‐3, GII‐4, and GII‐14) were detected, with GII‐4/2006b the most predominant type (64.9%). The reported recombinant of GII‐3 capsid and GII‐4 polymerase described previously was also detected frequently and a recombinant of GII‐14 capsid and GII‐6 polymerase was found for the first time. This study suggests that continual surveillance focusing on strain variation and dynamic change is important for understanding the epidemiology and development of a strategy for disease control and prevention. J. Med. Virol. 80:1997–2004, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.