0000000000138243
AUTHOR
Gm Giammanco
Variant GII.4 noroviruses in Italian children
Objectives: Among human noroviruses (NoVs), a few genogroup II strains of genotype 4 (GII.4) are dominant worldwide. GII.4 NoVs evolve rapidly and in 2006 two new epidemic variants have been identified. To investigate the circulation of GII.4 NoV variants in Italy a sequence analysis was performed on NoV strains obtained from children hospitalized for sporadic viral gastroenteritis in Palermo. Methods: A total of 465 faecal specimens were collected from children (< 5 years) hospitalized from January 2005 to December 2006. The presence of NoVs was detected by RT-PCR using primers JV12/JV13, targeting the region A of the RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase (RdRp) gene. NoV strains were genotyped by …
Molecular characterization of rotavirus strains from children with diarrhea in Italy, 2007-2009.
The surveillance network RotaNet-Italia was established in 2007 in order to investigate the diversity of co-circulating rotavirus strains in Italy, and to provide a baseline for future assessment of possible effects of vaccine implementation in selecting novel versus common rotavirus strains. A total of 2,645 rotavirus strains from pediatric patients with acute diarrhea were collected over three consecutive seasons from September 2006 through August 2009, and partially characterized by standardized multiplex RT-PCR. Most of strains (89.1%) belonged to genotypes G1–G4, and G9, associated with either P[8] or P[4], commonly found in humans worldwide. However, in at least 2.0% of cases, viruses…