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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, October 2008, p. 3397-3403, Vol. 46, No. 10
0095-1137/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JCM.01932-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Department of Virology, Toyama Institute of Health, Imizu, Toyama 939-0363,1 Niikawa Health Center, Kurobe, Toyama 938-0025, Japan2
Received 1 October 2007/ Returned for modification 7 November 2007/ Accepted 24 July 2008
Norovirus (NoV) infections are the major cause of food- and waterborne nonbacterial gastroenteritis in Japan. Some individuals showed long-term excretion of the virus into feces in 29 outbreaks of acute nonbacterial gastroenteritis that occurred in Toyama Prefecture, Japan, in fiscal year 2006. In one of these cases, single base substitutions from A to G in the capsid region of the NoV genome were commonly detected in two individuals during virus shedding by direct sequencing of PCR products. The A-to-G substitution was accompanied by an N-to-S amino acid change. The population of clones that possessed A at the corresponding site was gradually replaced by those with G during the infectious course. Although other substitutions were observed in the complete open reading frame 2 sequence, they were not common in these two individuals. NoVs are capable of evolving in the gastroenteric tract.
Published ahead of print on 6 August 2008.
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