Recovery of structurally intact norovirus from food-contact surfaces

Human noroviruses (NoVs) are the most common cause of gastroenteritis and are responsible for at least 50% of all gastroenteritis outbreaks worldwide. NoV can be transmitted directly via person-to-person contact and contaminated fomites or indirectly via contaminated raw and ready-to-eat foods. However, there have not been enough studies that examine the detection and persistence of NoV on various food-contact surfaces, which may provide information regarding the transmission of NoV in public places, such as restaurants, hospitals, and nursing homes. In order to determine the persistence of NoV, the ability of NoV GII.4 to persist on six kinds of surfaces was investigated for up to 28 d post-inoculation, using an immuno-magnetic separation (IMS) procedure combined with quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR). NoV GII.4 was detected in all test samples, even after 672 h (28 d).