0000000000542901
AUTHOR
Veronica Costantini
Genetic heterogeneity of porcine enteric caliciviruses identified from diarrhoeic piglets
Enteric caliciviruses (noroviruses and sapoviruses) are responsible for the majority of non-bacterial gastroenteritis in humans of all age groups. Analysis of the polymerase and capsid genes has provided evidence for a huge genetic diversity, but the understanding of their ecology is limited. In this study, we investigated the presence of porcine enteric caliciviruses in the faeces of piglets with diarrhoea. A total of 209 samples from 118 herds were analysed and calicivirus RNA was detected by RT-PCR in 68 sample (32.5%) and in 46 herds (38.9%), alone or in mixed infection with group A and C rotaviruses. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis of the calicivirus-positive samples characterized t…
Human Intestinal Enteroids to Evaluate Human Norovirus GII.4 Inactivation by Aged-Green Tea
Human noroviruses are the leading cause of epidemic and sporadic acute gastroenteritis worldwide and the most common cause of foodborne illness in the United States. Several natural compounds, such as aged-green tea extract (aged-GTE), have been suggested as ingestible antiviral agents against human norovirus based on data using murine norovirus and feline calicivirus as surrogates. However, in vitro data showing their effectiveness against infectious human norovirus are lacking. We tested the activity of aged-GTE to inhibit human norovirus in a human intestinal enteroids (HIEs) model and Tulane virus in LLC-monkey kidney (LLC-MK2) cell culture. HIE monolayers pretreated with aged-GTE at di…