Relative frequency of norovirus infection in children suffering from gastroenteritis referred to Aboozar hospital, Ahvaz, Iran

Background: Noroviruses belong to the Norovirus genus in the Caliciviridae family. Norovi-ruses are the most common causes of gastroenteritis and have a great impact on public health. They have been identified as a common cause of acute gastroenteritis in children. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Norovirus in children suffering from gastroenteritis. Patients and Methods: Fecal samples (n = 143) were collected from children under 5 years of age who were suffering from gastroenteritis. All the children were referred to Ahvaz Aboo-zar Hospital, located in southwestern Iran. Norovirus RNA was extracted by Trizol, and RNA was detected using nested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (nested-RT-PCR). Results: Norovirus infection was detected in 9 of the 143 collected samples (6.3%). All posi-tive samples belonged to genogroup II. Five positive samples were obtained from male patients and 4 were obtained from female patients. Most of the positive cases were from patients between 3 and 5 yars of age (n = 5, 56%). There was no relationship between gender and virus prevalence. The rate of infection peaked in winter (n =6, 66.9%), and we did not detect any positive cases in summer. Conclusions: The prevalence of this virus in Ahvaz is similar to that reported by other re-searchers. Because this virus is transmitted by contaminated food or water, we recom-mend adult education and improved personal hygiene to reduce the incidence of Noro-virus infection in children. This study improves our epidemiological knowledge of the prevalence of this virus in Ahvaz and Iran.