In the post rotavirus vaccine era, norovirus (NoV) plays an increasingly important role in epidemic and sporadic gastroenteritis among children. This study was designed to provide an updated meta-analytic review of the prevalence of NoV among paediatric patients with gastroenteritis and to clarify the relationship between NoV infection and gastroenteritis. Systematic searches of the literature for potentially relevant studies were carried out from 1 January 2015 to 29 May 2020.The inverse variance method was chosen for weighting of the studies, and the random-effects model was used to analyse data. To determine the association between NoV infection and gastroenteritis in children, pooled odds ratio (OR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) were computed for case-control studies. The pooled prevalence of NoV infection among 12,0531 children with gastroenteritis from 45 countries across the world was 17.7% (95% CI: 16.3%-19.2%). There were 28 studies with a case-control design, and the pooled prevalence of NoV infection among 11,954 control subjects was 6.7% (95% CI: 5.1%-8.8%). The pooled OR of the association of NoV infection and gastroenteritis was 2.7 (95% CI: 2.2-3.4).The most common NoV genotypes were GII.4 (59.3%) and GII.

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Background: Rotaviruses are the cause of acute gastroenteritis and severe diarrheal diseases in children worldwide. Children under the age of five are more susceptible to rotavirus infections. Due to such as the lack of effective drugs and supportive therapy only, the development of new antiviral agents against rotaviruses. Multi-drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii is also one of the most challenging Gram-negative bacteria to control and treat due to its antibiotic resistance, particularly in intensive care units. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the activity of zinc oxide nanoparticles against human rotavirus and multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. Methods: The standard 50% tissue culture infectious dose method and the real-time polymerase chain reaction assay were used to investigate the effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles on rotaviruses. The well diffusion and the minimum inhibitory concentration method were used to assess the antibacterial activity of zinc oxide nanoparticles against Acinetobacter baumannii. Results: 300 μg/ml of zinc oxide nanoparticles demonstrated the highest anti-rotavirus effects, resulting in a 3.16 logarithmic decrease in virus infectious titer, and a four-unit increase in the cycle threshold value of the real-time polymerase chain reaction assay compared to the untreated control (P value <0.001 and P value = 0.005, respectively). The diameter of the inhibition zone of zinc oxide nanoparticles solution against Acinetobacter baumannii was 17 mm. The minimum inhibitory concentration results of the zinc oxide nanoparticles solution against Acinetobacter baumannii was 1.56 mg/ml. Conclusion: Our findings showed that zinc oxide nanoparticles could be considered a promising antimicrobial compound.

Background: Considering the role of calcium in the replication and morphogenesis of rotaviruses, it is hypothesized that decreased cytosolic calcium levels by using calcium channel blockers can subsequently interfere with rotavirus replication. Objective: The present study investigated the effects of two calcium ion channel blockers, amlodipine and diltiazem, against human rotavirus infection. Method: Cytotoxic effects of the drugs on MA-104 cells were evaluated using the neutral red assay. The effects of amlodipine and diltiazem at non-toxic concentrations on human rotavirus were examined using cytopathic effect inhibition, TCID50, and real-time PCR assays. Results: The highest inhibitory effect was obtained at concentrations of 0.5 μg/ml of amlodipine and 3 μg/ml of diltiazem, leading to 4.6 and 5.5 logarithmic reductions in infectious rotavirus titer and four- and a five-fold increase in the Ct values compared to the virus control, respectively (p-value <0.001). Conversely, infectious rotavirus titers were significantly elevated compared to the virus control at concentrations above 0.9 μg/ml of amlodipine and above 25 μg/ml of diltiazem. Conclusion: Our study suggests that in addition to cardiovascular diseases, calcium channel blockers at their optimal doses may also be used to treat gastroenteritis caused by rotavirus infection

Background: Recently, plant-based medications have been considered promising. Scrophularia has been demonstrated to have antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory effects; however, no evidence of its antiviral potency is available. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate whether the aqueous extract of Scrophularia Variegata has antiviral activity against rotavirus as the leading cause of severe diarrhea and acute gastroenteritis in children. Methods: The neutral red assay was utilized to assess the cytotoxicity of the aqueous extract on the cell line. Cytopathic effect (CPE) inhibition, TCID50 (50% cell culture infectious dose), and real-time PCR assays were performed to determine the extract's impact on human rotavirus at non-toxic dilutions. Results: Cell viability was raised following treatment with the aqueous extract at all dilutions. Rotavirus-induced CPEs were considerably reduced when higher dilutions of the aqueous extract were applied to the infected cells. The most substantial inhibitory effect was observed at the highest dilution with no detectable infectious rotavirus titer using the TCID50 assay and no Ct value using the real-time PCR assay. Conclusion: Our findings show that the aqueous extract of Scrophularia Variegata may be a promising candidate for the treatment of rotavirus-induced gastroenteritis.