Genetic Analysis of Noroviruses Associated with Sporadic Gastroenteritis During Winter in Guangzhou, China

Abstract

Noroviruses are regarded as the major causes of acute gastroenteritis worldwide, but their prevalence in sporadic diarrhea in South China remains unclear. This study was performed to characterize the genotypes of circulating norovirus strains associated with sporadic diarrhea cases in Guangzhou from November 2010 to January 2011. Among fecal specimens collected from 89 patients with acute diarrhea, nine samples (10.11%) were norovirus positive and 32 samples (35.96%) were rotavirus positive. The partial polymerase and the capsid regions of these norovirus samples were sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed. Three genotypes (GII.4, GII.6, and GII.b/GII.3) were identified, among which GII.4-2006b was the most predominant genotype (4/9, 44.4%), followed by GII.6 (3/9, 33.3%). A novel GII.4-2010 variant was first detected in China. Furthermore, the near full-length genome of the GZ2010-L26 strain, which belonged to GII.4-2006b, was sequenced and analyzed. Thus, the results of this study suggested that, second to rotavirus, noroviruses are the important pathogens responsible for sporadic acute gastroenteritis during winter in Guangzhou, and the GII.4-2006b variant remains the predominant genotype.

Human calicivirus occurrence among outpatients with diarrhea in Beijing, China, between April 2011 and March 2013

“…In many countries, such as the United States [Vega et al, ], Denmark [Fonager et al, ], Canada [Hasing et al, ] and Singapore [Lim et al, ], GII.4 2006b had been successfully displaced by GII.4 New Orleans_2009. Although New Orleans_2009 was also detected in our study and in other study in China [Xue et al, ], GII.4 2006b remained the predominant GII.4 variant until Sydney_2012 emerged. A similar situation was also observed with the Asia and 2006a GII.4 variants; the former was usually found in Asia, whereas the latter was more common on other continents [Siebenga et al, ].…”

“…The GII.4 Den Haag_2006b variant was first detected in England in late 2005 and became predominant worldwide between 2006 and 2009 [Tu et al, ; Siebenga et al, ]. GII.4 2006b was first identified in China in July 2006, and many surveys demonstrated that GII.4 2006b has since been the predominant variant in China [Jin et al, ; Zeng et al, ; Xue et al, ]. In many countries, such as the United States [Vega et al, ], Denmark [Fonager et al, ], Canada [Hasing et al, ] and Singapore [Lim et al, ], GII.4 2006b had been successfully displaced by GII.4 New Orleans_2009.…”

Molecular epidemiology and spatiotemporal dynamics of norovirus associated with sporadic acute gastroenteritis during 2013–2017, Zhoushan Islands, China

“…China is one of 15 countries with the highest burden of diarrhea disease worldwide, with the HuNoV infection rate increasing from 11.20% in 2007 to 15.30% in 2012 [ 18 ]. HuNoV in China is highly diverse [ 19 ] and once a new strain or variant emerges, China is one of the main regions where these strains can become an epidemic, including the GII.4_Hunter_2004, GII.4_DenHaag_2006b, GII.4_New Orleans_2009, GII.4_Sydney_2012, GII.P17-GII.17, and latest GII.P16-GII.2 strains [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 12 ]. Currently, no licensed norovirus vaccine exists, but candidates vaccines are being tested in clinical trials.…”

Monomeric catechin and dimeric procyanidin B2 against human norovirus surrogates and their physicochemical interactions

“…In the United States, the CaliciNet reported that HNoVs accounted for 80-95% of all cases of gastroenteritis outbreaks from 2009 to 2013 (Hall et al, 2013;Vega et al, 2014). Moreover, studies on the prevalence of HNoV infections in China were also widely described in recent years (Mai et al, 2013;Xue et al, 2013). The HNoV genotype GII.4 that caused more than 85% of all outbreaks was reported to be the most prevalent and infectious strain in past years (Vega et al, 2014;Zheng et al, 2010).…”