Molecular Virology of Enteric Viruses (with Emphasis on Caliciviruses)

Human caliciviruses are members of the family Caliciviridae and are responsible for a majority of the outbreaks of acute nonbacterial gastroenteritis. In fact, they now are considered a common cause of sporadic cases of diarrhea in the community (Glass et al., 2000b; Koopmans et al., 2002; Lopman et al., 2002; Hutson et al., 2004). These viruses were implicated in as many as 95% of the reported viral gastroenteritis outbreaks examined over a 4.5-year period in the United States (Fankhauser et al., 2002), and similar high incidence rates have been found in other studies (Maguire et al., 1999; Glass et al., 2000b; Koopmans et al., 2000; Lopman et al., 2003). Common features of the Calicivirid…