Emergence of Noroviruses homologous to strains reported from Djibouti (horn of Africa), Brazil, Italy, Japan and USA among children in Kolkata, India

S.M. Nataraju 1, B. Ganesh 1, S. Das 1, S. Chowdhury 1, M.K. Nayak 1, M. Ghosh 3, M.K. Chatterjee 4, U. Sarkar 4, U. Mitra 2, M.K. Bhattacharya 2, R. Arora 5, N. Kobayashi 6, T. Krishnan 1

1 Division of Virology and 2 Division of Clinical Medicine, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), Beliaghata, Kolkata, West Bengal (India) 3 Infectious Diseases and Beliaghata General Hospital, Kolkata (India) 4 Dr B.C. Roy Memorial Hospital for Children, Kankurgachi, Kolkata (India) 5 Indian Council of Medical Research, Ramalingaswami Bhavan, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi (India) 6 Department of Hygiene, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Chuo-ku, Sapporo (Japan)

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• Virology

Abstract. – Aim: A total of 625 faecal specimens of diarrheic cases (n-313) and non diarrheic controls (n-312), were screened by RT-PCR to detect Noroviruses in children aged below 5 years in Kolkata, India.
Materials and Methods: Out of the 313 fecal specimens (cases) screened using CDC primer set, 10 (3.19%) showed amplification in reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for Norovirus. These included 5 of 260 (1.92%) from hospitalized and 5 of 53 (9.43%) from out patients department (OPD) cases.
Results: Nine (90%) of Norovirus positive cases belonged to genogroup GII and one specimen (10%) was positive for genogroup GI. Among the 312 non diarrheic controls 2 (0.63%) were positive for Norovirus GII. Partial RNA dependent RNA polymerase gene (RdRp) sequences corresponding to the six Norovirus GII positive samples showed homology to the sequences of Djibouti (horn of Africa), Brazil, Italy, Japan and US norovirus strains.
Conclusion: This study shows the detection of newly emerging Norovirus strains among diarrheic and non diarrheic children in Kolkata.

Corresponding Author: Triveni Krishnan, PhD; e-mail: drtriveni.krishnan@gmail.com

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