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Sentinel hospital-based surveillance for norovirus infection in children with gastroenteritis between 2015 and 2016 in Italy.

Simona De GraziaGianvito LanaveGiovanni Maurizio GiammancoMaria Cristina MediciFlora De ContoFabio TummoloAdriana CalderaroFloriana BonuraNoemi UroneAnna MoreaDaniela LoconsoleCristiana CatellaMariarosaria MarinaroAntonio ParisiVito MartellaMaria Chironna
Published in: PloS one (2018)
Noroviruses are one of the leading causes of gastro-enteric diseases worldwide in all age groups. Novel epidemic noroviruses with GII.P16 polymerase and GII.2 or GII.4 capsid type have emerged worldwide in late 2015 and in 2016. We performed a molecular epidemiological study of the noroviruses circulating in Italy to investigate the emergence of new norovirus strains. Sentinel hospital-based surveillance, in three different Italian regions, revealed increased prevalence of norovirus infection in children (<15 years) in 2016 (14.4% versus 9.8% in 2015) and the emergence of GII.P16 strains in late 2016, which accounted for 23.0% of norovirus infections. The majority of the strains with a GII.P16 polymerase showed a GII.2 capsid genotype (79.5%). Also, a marked circulation of strains with a GII.17 capsid (14.0%) was observed, chiefly in early 2016. The emergence and global spread of non-GII.4 noroviruses pose challenges for the development of vaccine strategies.
Keyphrases
  • escherichia coli
  • public health
  • risk factors
  • single cell