Abstract
Background: Noroviruses belong to the Norovirus genus in the Caliciviridae family. Norovi-ruses are the most common causes of gastroenteritis and have a great impact on public
health. They have been identified as a common cause of acute gastroenteritis in children.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Norovirus in children
suffering from gastroenteritis.
Patients and Methods: Fecal samples (n = 143) were collected from children under 5 years of
age who were suffering from gastroenteritis. All the children were referred to Ahvaz Aboo-zar Hospital, located in southwestern Iran. Norovirus RNA was extracted by Trizol, and
RNA was detected using nested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (nested-RT-PCR).
Results: Norovirus infection was detected in 9 of the 143 collected samples (6.3%). All posi-tive samples belonged to genogroup II. Five positive samples were obtained from male
patients and 4 were obtained from female patients. Most of the positive cases were from
patients between 3 and 5 yars of age (n = 5, 56%). There was no relationship between gender
and virus prevalence. The rate of infection peaked in winter (n =6, 66.9%), and we did not
detect any positive cases in summer.
Conclusions: The prevalence of this virus in Ahvaz is similar to that reported by other re-searchers. Because this virus is transmitted by contaminated food or water, we recom-mend adult education and improved personal hygiene to reduce the incidence of Noro-virus infection in children. This study improves our epidemiological knowledge of the
prevalence of this virus in Ahvaz and Iran.
health. They have been identified as a common cause of acute gastroenteritis in children.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Norovirus in children
suffering from gastroenteritis.
Patients and Methods: Fecal samples (n = 143) were collected from children under 5 years of
age who were suffering from gastroenteritis. All the children were referred to Ahvaz Aboo-zar Hospital, located in southwestern Iran. Norovirus RNA was extracted by Trizol, and
RNA was detected using nested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (nested-RT-PCR).
Results: Norovirus infection was detected in 9 of the 143 collected samples (6.3%). All posi-tive samples belonged to genogroup II. Five positive samples were obtained from male
patients and 4 were obtained from female patients. Most of the positive cases were from
patients between 3 and 5 yars of age (n = 5, 56%). There was no relationship between gender
and virus prevalence. The rate of infection peaked in winter (n =6, 66.9%), and we did not
detect any positive cases in summer.
Conclusions: The prevalence of this virus in Ahvaz is similar to that reported by other re-searchers. Because this virus is transmitted by contaminated food or water, we recom-mend adult education and improved personal hygiene to reduce the incidence of Noro-virus infection in children. This study improves our epidemiological knowledge of the
prevalence of this virus in Ahvaz and Iran.
Keywords
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© 2012, Author(s). This open-access article is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which allows for unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.