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Patient age, norovirus genotype may be related
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Among patients diagnosed with norovirus, there may be a correlation between patient age and the norovirus genotype implicated in the infection, according to recent findings.
In a retrospective study, researchers evaluated 2,109 patients whose stool samples tested positive for norovirus during routine diagnostic testing at the department of virology at Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark, between 2006 and 2010. The samples were acquired from three patient types: inpatients and nursing home residents (classified as “health care settings”), patients presenting to general practitioners or outpatient clinics (“community settings”), and those seen as part of foodborne outbreaks.
The researchers processed the stool samples for nucleic acid extraction, and performed real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) analysis to identify norovirus genogroups and genotypes. Also used to acquire gene sequences were polymerase RT-PCR and capsid RT-PCR.
The researchers found a higher incidence norovirus from genogroup II genotype 4 (GII.4) among inpatients than in community settings or through foodborne outbreaks. In both community and health care settings, a correlation was observed between GII.4 infection and older age. In patients living in health care settings and in those older than 60 years, norovirus genotype GII.4 had the highest prevalence. The norovirus genotypes GII.3 and GII.P21 were more frequently identified in children than in adults.
The researchers said although future cohort studies are needed to further explore these correlations, these findings support the existence of a relationship between patient age and infecting norovirus genotype.
“Our results confirmed that most [norovirus] genotypes circulating in health care settings were GII.4, and that infection with [norovirus] GII.P21 or II.3 was more prevalent in children than adults,” the researchers wrote. “We observed an association between older age and infection with [norovirus] GII.4, which could partly explain why most [norovirus] infections in health care settings are caused by this genotype. Cohort studies testing this hypothesis would be of value.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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