Since early November 2016, the number of laboratory-confirmed norovirus infections reported in Germany has been increasing steeply. Here, we report the detection and genetic characterisation of an emerging norovirus recombinant, GII.P16-GII.2. This strain was frequently identified as the cause of sporadic cases as well as outbreaks in nine federal states of Germany. Our findings suggest that the emergence of GII.P16-GII.2 contributed to rising case numbers of norovirus gastroenteritis in Germany.

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a cause of respiratory tract illness at all ages. In this study the epidemiological and molecular diversity among patients of different ages was investigated. Between 2000–2001 and 2009–2010, HMPV was detected in 3% (138/4,549) of samples from outpatients with influenza-like illness with a new, sensitive real-time RT-PCR assay. Several hundred (797) clinical specimens from hospitalized children below the age of 4 years with acute respiratory illness were investigated and HMPV was detected in 11.9% of them. Investigation of outpatients revealed that HMPV infections occurred in individuals of all ages but were most prevalent in children (0–4 years) and the elderly (>60 years). The most present clinical features of HMPV infections were cough, bronchitis, fever/shivers and pneumonia. About two thirds of HMPV-positive samples were detected in February and March throughout the study period. Molecular characterization of HMPV revealed a complex cyclic pattern of group dominance where HMPV subgroup A and B viruses predominated in general for three consecutive seasons. German HMPV represented all genetic lineages including A1, A2, B1, B2, sub-clusters A2a and A2b. For Germany, not only time-dependent circulation of lineages and sub-clusters was observed but also co-circulation of two or three predominant lineages. Two newly emerging amino acid substitutions (positions 223 and 280) of lineage B2 were detected in seven German HMPV sequences. Our study gives new insights into the molecular epidemiology of HMPV in in- and outpatients over a time period of 10 years for the first time. It is one of only few long-term surveillance studies in Europe, and allows comparative molecular analyses of HMPV circulating worldwide.

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A new recombinant norovirus GII.P16-GII.2 outnumbered pandemic GII.4 as the predominant GII genotype in the winter of 2016–2017 in Hong Kong, China. Half of hospitalized case-patients were older children and adults, including 13 young adults. This emergent norovirus targets a wider age population compared with circulating pandemic GII.4 strains.

Autochthonous hepatitis E virus genotype 3 (HEV-3) infections in industrialized countries are more frequent than previously assumed. HEV-3 is zoonotic and the causal pathogen of chronic hepatitis E. According to the latest classification of the family , 10 designated HEV-3 subtypes (HEV-3a to HEV-3j) and 7 unassigned HEV-3 subtypes are proposed. In order to identify and characterize the HEV-3 variants in circulation, we developed a molecular approach combining a sensitive HEV-specific real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) targeting the overlapping region of HEV ORF2 and ORF3 (the ORF2/3 region) and two newly designed consensus nested RT-PCRs targeting the HEV ORF1 and ORF2 genes, respectively. Since complete genome sequences are required for new HEV-3 subtype assignment, we implemented a straightforward approach for full-length HEV-3 genome amplification. Twenty-nine human serum samples and six human feces samples from chronic hepatitis E patients were selected for evaluation of the system. Viral loads ranged from 1 × 10 to 1.9 × 10 copies/ml of serum and from 1.8 × 10 to 1 × 10 copies/g of feces. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses of partial ORF1 and ORF2 sequences showed that HEV strains had considerable genetic diversity and clustered into the HEV-3c (29/35), HEV-3e (2/35), HEV-3f (2/35), and unassigned HEV-3 (2/35) subtypes. Moreover, from these strains, three full-length HEV-3 genome sequences were generated and characterized. DE/15-0030 represents a typical HEV-3c strain (95.7% nucleotide identity to wbGER27), while DE/15-0031 and SW/16-0282 have <89.2% homology to known HEV-3 strains and are phylogenetically divergent, indicating novel HEV-3 subtypes. In summary, our approach will significantly facilitate the detection, quantification, and determination of HEV-3 strains and will thus help to improve molecular diagnostics and our knowledge of HEV diversity and evolution.