Infect Chemother.  2010 Jun;42(3):143-148. 10.3947/ic.2010.42.3.143.

Comparison of Clinical Features of Norovirus and Rotavirus Gastroenteritis in Hospitalized Children and Norovirus Genotype Analysis

• Song JH
• Sun DS
• Park JS
• Choi YJ
• Nam HS
• Kim YB
• Jung EH
• Baek KA
• Park KS

• KMID: 2170301
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3947/ic.2010.42.3.143

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Norovirus is one of the most prevalent pathogens causing acute gastroenteritis in children. We compared the clinical features of noroviral gastroenteritis to those of rotaviral gastroenteritis and analyzed the noroviruses' genotype frequencies.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Stool samples were obtained form 433 children hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis from May 2008 through February 2009 at Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital and examined for the presence of norovirus or rotavirus. We then analyzed the clinical features of noroviral gastroenteritis in comparison with rotaviral gastroenteritis and observed the capsid protein gene sequences from the isolated norovirus for genotyping.
RESULTS
Norovirus was isolated from 69 patients (16.4%) and rotavirus from 49 patients (11.6%). The noroviral gastroenteritis patients experienced vomiting (77.4%), diarrhea (73.2%), and respiratory symptoms (53.6%); the rotaviral gastroenteritis patients experienced diarrhea (71.4%), dehydration (69.3%), and vomiting (65.3%). Dehydration in patients with noroviral gastroenteritis (43.4%) was rare compared with rotavirus (69.3%) (P=0.008). The isolated norovirus belonged primarily to the GII.4 genogroup (85.5%). Our phylogenetic analysis of the GII.4 isolates revealed 3 clusters, including novel cluster C.
CONCLUSIONS
Vomiting was the most common symptom in noroviral gastroenteritis patients. Dehydration in noroviral gastroenteritis patients was less common compared with rotavirus gastroenteritis patients. The majority of the norovirus strains isolated from children with acute gastroenteritis belonged to the GII.4 genogroup.

Keyword

Norovirus; Rotavirus; Gastroenteritis; Child

MeSH Terms

Capsid Proteins
Child
Child, Hospitalized
Dehydration
Diarrhea
Gastroenteritis
Genotype
Humans
Norovirus
Rotavirus
Vomiting
Capsid Proteins

Figure

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  Figure 1 Comparison of clinical features of children hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis due to norovirus with rotavirus in Cheonan from May 2008 through February 2009.

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  Figure 2 Comparison of monthly detection rate of norovirus and rotavirus from children hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis in Cheonan from May 2008 through February 2009.

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  Figure 3 Phylogenetic analysis of SCH (SoonChunHyang) isolates and reference strains of Norovirus GII.4. Nucleotide sequences encoding the capsid were analyzed by the Neighbor-Joining methods and the trees were constructed using MEGA, version 4.0, software package. SCH strains are identified as SCH-month of isolation-the isolate number. The reference strains include for the comparison are: Lordsdale/1995/UK (X86557), Kobe034/2006/JP (AB291542), Farmington Hills/2002/USA (AY502203), Oxford/B5S13/2002/UK (AY588018), Sydney532D/04O/AU (DQ078801), Brynhaven/2003/UK (DQ676862), DenHaag54/2006/NL (EF126962), Yerseke38/2006/NL (EF126963), PA129R-/2004/IT (EU876865), PA15R-/2002/IT (EU876872), PA2/2005/IT (EU876877), PA173/2006/IT (FJ025876).

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