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Background Human norovirus is a major cause of acute gastroenteritis across all age groups. This study investigated the prevalence, genotypes, and viral loads of noroviruses in adult patients with acute gastroenteritis. Methods A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted between December 2021 and March 2023 in Thailand. The presence of noroviruses GI and GII in stool samples from patients with acute gastroenteritis were tested using RT-nested PCR and DNA sequencing. All norovirus GII-positive samples were further characterized by polymerase-capsid typing assay and semi-nested RT-PCR. Norovirus GII concentrations were determined by RT-qPCR. Results Norovirus GII was detected in 11.2% (28/250) of stool samples. Genotyping of the VP1 and RdRp genes identified GII.4 Sydney 2012P31, GII.17P17, and GII.17P16, with GII.17P16 being the most frequently detected. Of 28 norovirus GII-positive samples, the most common genotype was GII.17 (35.7%), followed by GII.17P16 (32.1%), GII.17P17 (14.3%), GII.4 Den Haag (7.1%), and GII.4 Sydney 2012P31, GII.3 and GII.2 (3.6% each). GII.4 SydneyP31 infections had the highest viral load (8.3 × 10 9 genome copies/g), followed by GII.17P17 (8.9 × 10 5 − 4.5 × 10 8 genome copies/g) and GII.17P16 (3.7 × 10 4 − 1.6 × 10 7 genome copies/g). GII.3 (2.4 × 10 4 genome copies/g), GII.4 Den Haag (1.7 × 10⁴ and 3.8 × 10⁴ genome copies/g) and GII.17 (2.4 × 10³–7.4 × 10⁴ genome copies/g) exhibited lower viral concentrations. Conclusions These findings provide important epidemiological insights into norovirus circulation, highlighting the emergence of GII.17P16 and informing future outbreak preparedness and vaccine development.
Kittigul et al. (Mon,) studied this question.