Norovirus Infections and Disease in Lower-Middle- and Low-Income Countries, 1997–2018

Abstract

Noroviruses are a major cause of viral gastroenteritis. The burden of the norovirus in lowresourcesettings is not well‐established due to limited data. This study reviews the norovirusprevalence, epidemiology, and genotype diversity in lower‐middle‐income countries (LMIC) andin low‐income countries (LIC). PubMed was searched up to 14 January 2019 for norovirus studiesfrom all LIC and LMIC (World Bank Classification). Studies that tested gastroenteritis cases and/orasymptomatic controls for norovirus by reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR)were included. Sixty‐four studies, the majority on children <5 years of age, were identified, and 14%(95% confidence interval; CI 14–15, 5158/36,288) of the gastroenteritis patients and 8% (95% CI 7–9,423/5310) of healthy controls tested positive for norovirus. In LMIC, norovirus was detected in 15%(95% CI 15–16) of cases and 8% (95% CI 8–10) of healthy controls. In LIC, 11% (95% CI 10–12) ofsymptomatic cases and 9% (95% CI 8–10) of asymptomatic controls were norovirus positive.Norovirus genogroup II predominated overall. GII.4 was the predominant genotype in all settings,followed by GII.3 and GII.6. The most prevalent GI strain was GI.3. Norovirus causes a significantamount of gastroenteritis in low‐resource countries, albeit with high levels of asymptomaticinfection in LIC and a high prevalence of coinfections

Microbiological safety of ready‐to‐eat foods in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A comprehensive 10‐year (2009 to 2018) review

“…Obvious reasons for this paucity of data could be the lack of skilled expertise required for the detection of viruses in RTEs in LMICs, low amount of viruses present in foods, which makes detection very difficult, and variability of methods applied for different food matrices (Koopmans, & Duizer, ; Maunula, & von Bonsdorff, ). Nevertheless, several reports on human exposure to foodborne viruses in some LMICs via detection of these viruses in biological samples, for example, stool (Ayukekbong et al., ; Kumar, Basu, Vashishtha, & Choudhury, ; Mans, ; Mattison, Sebunya, Shukla, Noliwe, & Bidawid, ; Mukherjee et al., ; Omore et al., ) and blood (Chadha, Lole, Bora, & Arankalle, ; Teshale et al., ), suggest that humans are frequently exposed to foodborne viruses in LMICs.…”

“…Currently, norovirus and rotavirus rank among the leading cause of diarrheal-related deaths in humans particularly children in LMICs (Kirk et al, 2015a(Kirk et al, , 2015bLopman, Steele, Kirkwood, & Parashar, 2016;Mans, 2019;Parashar et al, 2009;Taneja & Malik, 2012). It is important to mention that rotavirus vaccines are now available and have been included in the national immunization programs in some LMICs (Patel, Glass, Desai, Tate, & Parashar, 2012;Shah, Tate, Mwenda, Steele, & Parashar, 2017).…”

Metal Nanoparticles: a Promising Treatment for Viral and Arboviral Infections

“…The infection causes a sudden onset of vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and cramps after contact with contaminated food or infected individuals [151]. Norovirus can be life-threatening to children, especially undernourished children from developing countries [152], infants, older adults, and immunocompromised individuals [151]. There are no clinically approved antivirals and vaccines for norovirus infections [153] since the challenge is that the virus presents with a vast genetic diversity, with over thirty different genotypes infecting humans [151].…”

FUT2, Secretor Status and FUT3 Polymorphisms of Children with Acute Diarrhea Infected with Rotavirus and Norovirus in Brazil

“…Genogroups GI and GII that encompass more than 30 genotypes are the main causes of human infection. Among them, the GII.4 genotype is responsible for the majority of norovirus outbreaks and sporadic cases worldwide [ 10 , 11 ]. The RpRd gene classifies noroviruses into eight P-groups and 62 P-types [ 12 ].…”