Gastroenteritis Outbreaks Caused by Norovirus GII.17, Guangdong Province, China, 2014–2015 - Volume 21, Number 7—July 2015 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

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Gastroenteritis Outbreaks Caused by Norovirus GII.17, Guangdong Province, China, 2014–2015 - Volume 21, Number 7—July 2015 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

Volume 21, Number 7—July 2015

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Gastroenteritis Outbreaks Caused by Norovirus GII.17, Guangdong Province, China, 2014–2015

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• The Study
• Conclusions
• Suggested Citation

Figures

• Figure 1
• Figure 2

Technical Appendicies

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Jing Lu1, Limei Sun1, Lin Fang, Feng Yang, Yanling Mo, Jiaqian Lao, Huanying Zheng, Xiaohua Tan, Hualiang Lin, Shannon Rutherford, Lili Guo, Changwen Ke, and Li Hui 

Author affiliations: Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China (J. Lu, L. Sun, L. Fang, F. Yang, Y. Mo, J. Lao, H. Zheng, X. Tan, H. Lin, L. Guo, C. Ke, L. Hui); Guangdong Provincial Institution of Public Health, Guangzhou (J. Lu, H. Lin); Centre for Environment and Population Health, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (S. Rutherford)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract

In the past decade, the most prevalent norovirus genotype causing viral gastroenteritis outbreaks worldwide, including China, has been GII.4. In winter 2014–15, norovirus outbreaks in Guangdong, China, increased. Sequence analysis indicated that 82% of the outbreaks were caused by a norovirus GII.17 variant.

Norovirus infection is a leading cause of nonbacterial gastroenteritis outbreaks in industrialized and developing countries (1,2). On the basis of amino acid identity in viral protein 1, noroviruses can be divided into at least 6 genogroups (GI–GVI). GI and GII infect humans and can be further classified into genotypes; at least 9 genotypes belong to GI and 22 belong to GII (3). During the past decade, most reported norovirus outbreaks were caused by GII.4 norovirus (4,5). New variants of GII.4 have emerged approximately every 2–3 years and have caused norovirus gastroenteritis pandemics globally (6). Since 1999, the major circulating genotype in mainland China has been GII.4, accounting for 64% of all genotypes detected (7). In winter 2014–15, norovirus outbreaks in Guangdong Province, China, increased. Sequence analyses showed that the major cause of continuous gastroenteritis outbreaks in the region was a rarely reported norovirus genotype: GII.17.

Dr. Lu is a virologist at the Guangdong Provincial Institution of Public Health, Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention. His research interest is enteric viruses.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the efforts of local Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in China in the investigation and reporting of these outbreaks.

This work was supported by 12th Five-Year-Major-projects of the China Ministry of Public Health. Grant no. 2012zx10004-213.

References

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Figures

• Figure 1. Norovirus outbreaks in Guangdong, Province, China, January 2013–January 2015.
• Figure 2. Phylogenetic tree of noroviruses based on the 282-bp region of the capsid N terminus/shell gene. Nucleotide sequences were analyzed by using the maximum-likelihood method. Supporting bootstrap values >70 are...

Technical Appendix

• . Distribution of GII.17 norovirus outbreaks and associated clinical cases in Guangdong Province, China, 2014–2015, and phylogenetic tree of noroviruses  159 KB

Suggested citation for this article: Lu J, Sun L, Fang L, Yang F, Mo Y, Lao J, et al. Gastroenteritis outbreaks caused by norovirus GII.17, Guangdong Province, China, 2014–2015. Emerg Infect Dis. 2015 Jul [date cited]. http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2107.150226

DOI: 10.3201/eid2107.150226

1These authors contributed equally to this article.