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Master of Public Health

Characteristics of GII.4 Norovirus versus other Genotypes in Sporadic Pediatric Infections in Davidson County, Tennessee, USA

AUTHORS

Haddadin Z , Batarseh E , Hamdan L , Stewart LS , Piya B , Rahman H , Spieker AJ , Chappell J , Wikswo ME , Dunn JR , Payne DC , Vinjé J , Hall AJ , Halasa N , . Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. 2020 7 15; ().

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Norovirus is a leading cause of epidemic acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in the U.S, with most outbreaks occurring during winter. The majority of outbreaks are caused by GII.4 noroviruses, but data supporting whether this is true for sporadic medically-attended AGE are limited. Therefore, we sought to compare the clinical characteristics and seasonality of GII.4 vs. non-GII.4 viruses in children presenting with vomiting and/or diarrhea.

METHODS: Children from 15 days to 17 years with AGE symptoms were recruited from the outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient settings at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, Davidson County, Nashville, TN from 12/2012-11/2015. Stool specimens were tested by RT-qPCR for GI and GII noroviruses and subsequently genotyped by sequencing a partial region of the capsid gene.

RESULTS: A total of 3705 subjects were enrolled and stool specimens were collected and tested from 2885 (78%) of enrollees. Overall, 636 (22%) samples were norovirus-positive, of which 567 (89%) were GII. Of the 460 (81%) genotyped GII-positive samples, 233 (51%) were typed as GII.4 and 227 (49%) as non-GII.4. Compared to children with non-GII.4 infections, children with GII.4 infections were younger, more likely to have diarrhea and receive oral rehydration fluids. Norovirus was detected year-round but peaked during winter.

CONCLUSION: Approximately half of sporadic pediatric norovirus AGE cases were caused by GII.4 norovirus. Children infected with GII.4 had more severe symptoms requiring more medical care. Seasonal variations were noticed among different genotypes. These data highlight the importance of continuous norovirus surveillance and provide important information on which strains pediatric norovirus vaccines should protect against.

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