Epidemiological Features of Human Norovirus Genotypes before and after COVID-19 Countermeasures in Osaka, Japan

We investigated the molecular epidemiology of human norovirus (HuNoV) in all age groups using samples from April 2019 to March 2023, before and after the COVID-19 countermeasures were implemented. GII.2[P16] and GII.4[P31], the prevalent strains in Japan before COVID-19 countermeasures, remained prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, except from April to November 2020; in 2021, the prevalence of GII.2[P16] increased among children. Furthermore, there was an increase in the prevalence of GII.4[P16] after December 2022. Phylogenetic analysis of GII.P31 RdRp showed that some strains detected in 2022 belonged to a different cluster of other strains obtained during the present study period, suggesting that HuNoV strains will evolve differently even if they have the same type of RdRp. An analysis of the amino acid sequence of VP1 showed that some antigenic sites of GII.4[P16] were different from those of GII.4[P31]. The present study showed high infectivity of HuNoV despite the COVID-19 countermeasures and revealed changes in the prevalent genotypes and mutations of each genotype. In the future, we will investigate whether GII.4[P16] becomes more prevalent, providing new insights by comparing the new data with those analyzed in the present study.