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Updated: Feb 21, 2026
Detection and Genogrouping of Noroviruses from Children's Stools By Taqman One-step RT-PCR
Published on: July 22, 2012
Pediatric norovirus GII.4 infections in Nicaragua, 1999-2015
Filemón Bucardo1, Yaoska Reyes1, Sylvia Becker-Dreps2
1National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, León, Nicaragua.
Objectives:
Investigate clinical and epidemiological factors of pediatric GII.4 norovirus infections in children with acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in Nicaragua between 1999 and 2015.
Methods:
We retrospectively analyzed laboratory and epidemiologic data from 1,790 children≤7years with AGE from 6 hospitals in Nicaragua (n=538), and 3 community clinics (n=919) and households (n=333) in León, between 1999 and 2015. Moreover, asymptomatic children from community clinics (n=162) and households (n=105) were enrolled. Norovirus was detected by real-time PCR and genotyped by sequencing the N-terminal and shell region of the capsid gene.
Results:
Norovirus was found in 19% (n=338) and 12% (n=32) of children with and without AGE, respectively. In total, 20 genotypes including a tentatively new genotype were detected. Among children with AGE, the most common genotypes were GII.4 (53%), GII.14 (7%), GII.3 (6%) and GI.3 (6%). In contrast, only one (1.4%) GII.4 was found in asymptomatic children. The prevalence of GII.4 infections was significantly higher in children between 7 and 12months of age. The prevalence of GII.4 was lowest in households (38%), followed by community clinics (50%) and hospitals (75%). Several different GII.4 variants were detected and their emergence followed the global temporal trend.
Conclusions:
Overall our study found the predominance of pediatric GII.4 norovirus infections in Nicaragua mostly occurring in children between 7 and 12months of age, implicating GII.4 as the main norovirus vaccine target.
