Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Jun;46(6):2119-21.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.02198-07. Epub 2008 Apr 16.

Norovirus excretion in an aged-care setting

Elise T-V Tu  1 , Rowena A Bull, Mi-Jurng Kim, Christopher J McIver, Leon Heron, William D Rawlinson, Peter A White
Affiliations

Norovirus excretion in an aged-care setting

Elise T-V Tu et al. J Clin Microbiol. 2008 Jun.

Abstract

Norovirus genogroup II excretion during an outbreak of gastroenteritis was investigated in an aged-care facility. Viral shedding peaked in the acute stage of illness and continued for an average of 28.7 days. The viral decay rate was 0.76 per day, which corresponds to a viral half-life of 2.5 days.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Distribution of clinical symptoms from NoV GII RNA-infected volunteers presenting with gastroenteritis. The most common clinical symptom experienced among the volunteers was vomiting in 11 (78.6%) and diarrhea in 10 (71.4%) of 14 volunteers. The percentage of volunteers presenting with each clinical symptom of gastroenteritis is shown on top of the respective bar.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
(A) The percentages of volunteers positive for the detection of NoV GII RNA in stool specimens over time. The median duration of viral excretion was 28.5 days (n = 14 volunteers, range of 13.5 to 44.5 days, mean of 28.7 days). The initial day of illness equaled day 0. (B) Rate of viral decay in NoV GII-infected volunteers. NoV GII RNA was quantified in all 14 volunteers from the onset of gastrointestinal illness until the second consecutive negative NoV GII RNA specimen. Assuming an exponential decay of viral load over time, the following equation was determined: V = V010−dt, where d is the viral decay rate (day−1), V is NoV GII RNA copies/g at time t (day), and V0 is the initial viral load. The rate of viral decay was obtained by fitting the above equation on a logarithmic (log10) scale (r2 = 0.4236, P < 0.0001), with the assumption that a measured viral load of 0.00 copies/g stool (defined as a cycle threshold value below the detection limit of the assay) was equivalent to 1 copy/g stool. The viral decay rate in NoV-infected individuals was 0.76 per day, which corresponds to a half-life (t1/2) of 2.5 days.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Atmar, R. L., and M. K. Estes. 2006. The epidemiologic and clinical importance of norovirus infection. Gastroenterol. Clin. N. Am. 35275-290. - PubMed
    1. Blanton, L. H., S. M. Adams, R. S. Beard, G. Wei, S. N. Bulens, M. A. Widdowson, R. I. Glass, and S. S. Monroe. 2006. Molecular and epidemiologic trends of caliciviruses associated with outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis in the United States, 2000-2004. J. Infect. Dis. 193413-421. - PubMed
    1. Bull, R. A., G. S. Hansman, L. E. Clancy, M. M. Tanaka, W. D. Rawlinson, and P. A. White. 2005. Norovirus recombination in ORF1/ORF2 overlap. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 111079-1085. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bull., R. A., E. T.-V. Tu, C. J. McIver, W. D. Rawlinson, and P. A. White. 2006. Emergence of a new norovirus genotype II.4 variant associated with global outbreaks of gastroenteritis. J. Clin. Microbiol. 44327-333. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chan, M. C., J. J. Sung, R. K. Lam, P. K. Chan, N. L. Lee, R. W. Lai, and W. K. Leung. 2006. Fecal viral load and norovirus-associated gastroenteritis. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 121278-1280. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types