Epidemiological dynamics of norovirus GII.4 variant New Orleans 2009.

Norovirus (NoV) is one of the major causes of diarrhoeal disease with epidemic, outbreak and sporadic patterns in humans of all ages worldwide. NoVs of genotype GII.4 cause nearly 80–90 % of all NoV infections in humans. Periodically, some GII.4 strains become predominant, generating major pandemic variants. Retrospective analysis of the GII.4 NoV strains detected in Italy between 2007 and 2013 indicated that the pandemic variant New Orleans 2009 emerged in Italy in the late 2009, became predominant in 2010–2011 and continued to circulate in a sporadic fashion until April 2013. Upon phylogenetic analysis based on the small diagnostic regions A and C, the late New Orleans 2009 NoVs circulati…

Emergence in 2017-2019 of novel reassortant equine-like G3 rotavirus strains in Palermo, Sicily.

Rotavirus A (RVA) is a major etiologic agent of gastroenteritis in children worldwide. Hospital-based surveillance of viral gastroenteritis in paediatric population in Palermo (Italy) from 2017 onwards revealed a sharp increase in G3P[8] RVAs, accounting for 71% of all the RVAs detected in 2019. This pattern had not been observed before in Italy, with G3 RVA usually being detected at rates lower than 3%. In order to investigate this unique epidemiological pattern, the genetic diversity of G3 RVAs identified during a 16-year long surveillance (2004-2019) was explored by systematic sequencing of the VP7 and VP4 genes and by whole genome sequencing of selected G3 strains, representative of the…

Detection of a porcine-like rotavirus in a child with enteritis in Italy.

ABSTRACT During a 1-year rotavirus surveillance of children hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis in Brescia Hospital, Italy, a chimerical rotavirus strain, G3P[6], was detected, displaying the VP7 and VP4 genes of porcine origin and the NSP4 and VP6 genes of human origin. The reassortant nature of the virus rules out a direct zoonotic event.

Analysis of GII.P7 and GII.6 noroviruses circulating in Italy during 2011-2016 reveals a replacement of lineages and complex recombination history.

Noroviruses are important human enteric pathogens and monitoring their genetic diversity is important for epidemiological surveillance, vaccine development, and understanding of RNA viruses evolution. Epidemiological investigations have revealed that genogroup II, genotype 6 noroviruses (GII.6) are common agents of gastroenteritis. Upon sequencing of the ORF2 (encoding the viral capsid), GII.6 viruses have been distinguished into three variants. Sentinel hospital-based surveillance in Italy revealed that GII.6 noroviruses were the second most common capsid genotype in 2015, mostly in association with a GII.P7 ORF1 (encoding the viral polymerase). Upon molecular characterization of the ORF1 …

Heterogeneity of group A rotaviruses: identification of novel rotavirus strains bearing a VP4 gene unrelated to established VP4 (P) genotypes in piglets with diarrhea