Laboratory of Microbiology and Virology,Azienda Sanitaria dell'Alto Adige,Bolzano,Italy.
Department of Food Safety,Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health,Istituto Superiore di Sanità,Rome,Italy.
Epidemiol Infect. 2018 Feb;146(3):291-296. doi: 10.1017/S0950268817002989. Epub 2018 Jan 8.
In this study, we describe the results of virological investigations carried out on cases of gastroenteritis reported in different communities within a 2-year pilot surveillance programme (January 2012 to December 2013) in the autonomous province of Bolzano (Northern Italy). Among the 162 norovirus (NoV)-positive cases out of 702 cases investigated, 76 were grouped in nine suspected outbreaks, 37 were hospital-acquired and 49 were community-acquired sporadic cases. NoV infections were found in all age groups in outbreak and community-acquired cases, while the highest peak of hospital-acquired infections occurred in the elderly. Sequence analyses helped to identify suspected outbreaks both in the community and in hospital wards. Although GII.4 is the predominant genotype, sequence data confirmed that at least seven genotypes circulate causing sporadic cases. Findings in this study confirmed the relevance of NoV infections as a cause of outbreaks, and impact of NoV infections in community-acquired sporadic cases in adults that are rarely described because of a lack of reporting.
在这项研究中，我们描述了在意大利北部自治省博尔扎诺（Bolzano）进行的为期两年的试点监测项目（2012 年 1 月至 2013 年 12 月）中报告的不同社区中发生的胃肠炎病例进行病毒学调查的结果。在所调查的 702 例诺如病毒（NoV）阳性病例中，有 162 例被分为 9 起疑似暴发，37 例为医院获得性感染，49 例为社区获得性散发病例。在暴发和社区获得性病例中，所有年龄组均发现了 NoV 感染，而医院获得性感染的最高峰值出现在老年人中。序列分析有助于确定社区和医院病房中疑似暴发的原因。虽然 GII.4 是主要基因型，但序列数据证实，至少有七种基因型在引起散发病例方面发挥了作用。本研究的结果证实了 NoV 感染作为暴发原因的重要性，以及 NoV 感染对成人社区获得性散发病例的影响，由于缺乏报告，这些影响很少被描述。
