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Norovirus (NoV) is the most common agent causing outbreaks and sporadic cases of acute gastroenteritis among all ages, especially children under 5 years old. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, NoV infection has decreased drastically in Japan due to school closures and no outbreak related to NoV infection had been reported.In mid-September 2021, NoV outbreak occurred in kindergarten and nursery schools in Maizuru, Kyoto prefecture, Japan. Twenty-six stool samples collected from patients who were diagnosed of NoV gastroenteritis from the outbreak by an immunochromatographic (IC) kit at a pediatric outpatient clinic in Maizuru city during 3 weeks from September 13 to October 8, 2021 were examined for the presence of NoV GII by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), genome sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis.All 26 samples were confirmed positive to NoV GII and their genotypes were identified as GII.4 Sydney[P31]. The amino acid substitutions in open reading frame1 (ORF1) and ORF2 genes were found when compared with previously detected sporadic NoV GII.4 Sydney[P31] strains isolated in Japan. The clinical characterization of infected children was described. Most of the children were mild cases and vomiting was the most frequent clinical symptom.This study reported a recent emergence of NoV GII.4 Sydney[P31] causing acute gastroenteritis outbreak in children in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggests a need for further monitoring of NoV GII.4 variants.

Since human norovirus is non-cultivable, murine norovirus and feline calicivirus have been used as surrogates. In this study, the virucidal effects of ethanol-based sanitizers with different concentrations of additives (malic acid/sodium malate, glycerin-fatty acid ester) against murine norovirus and feline calicivirus F4 were examined. The ethanol-based sanitizers at pH 7 showed sufficient virucidal effects, but glycerin-fatty acid ester included in ethanol-based sanitizers at pH 4 or 6 reduced the virucidal effects against murine norovirus. The ethanol-based sanitizers containing malic acid/sodium malate inactivated feline calicivirus F4 in shorter time, but there is no difference between ethanol-based sanitizers with and without glycerin-fatty acid ester. Traditionally, feline calicivirus has been used for long time as a surrogate virus for human norovirus. However, this study suggested that murine norovirus and feline calicivirus F4 had different sensitivity with the additive components of ethanol-based sanitizers. Therefore, using feline calicivirus alone as a surrogate for human norovirus may not be sufficient to evaluate the virucidal effect of sanitizers on food-borne infections caused by human norovirus. Sanitizers having virucidal effects against at least both murine norovirus and feline calicivirus may be more suitable to inactivate human norovirus.

A total of 29 Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli strains were isolated from Thai and Japanese children with diarrhea using the Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification method. The samples were evaluated for mutations in gyrA and 23S rRNA in order to assess resistance against fluoroquinolones and macrolides, respectively. Among the isolated strains, 9 (8 C. jejuni and 1 C. coli) were from Thai children, and the other 20 (C. jejuni) were isolated from Japanese children. High fluoroquinolone resistance rates were observed in Thai (66.7%) and Japanese (90%) children. Macrolide resistance was not observed in Japanese children but was observed at a considerable rate of 12.5% of C. jejuni isolated in the Thai cohort. The results indicate that continuous monitoring of resistance of Campylobacter strains to fluoroquinolones and macrolides is definitely necessary.

We detected Campylobacter spp. in 5% (20/380) of diarrheal stool samples collected at an outpatient clinic in Kyoto using a commercial loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) kit with a fluorescent detection reagent after DNA extraction. The sensitivity and specificity were 100% in comparison with those of semi-nested PCR for the differentiation of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli. Fourteen of the 20 samples were already determined as C. jejuni by the culture method. All 20 samples were also positive for C. jejuni by the PCR method. Among the 58 cultured samples, the sensitivity of the culture method against the LAMP method was 93.3% (14/15) and the specificity was 100% (43/43). The detection rate of Campylobacter spp. from the heated supernatants by the LAMP method was lower than that from the supernatant after DNA extraction. In total, 25% (5/20) of the Campylobacter-positive samples by the LAMP method were co-infected with norovirus (3/20), rotavirus (1/20), and human parechovirus (1/20), although no other bacterial co-infection was identified by the culture method. C. jejuni was mostly detected in children aged >5 years throughout the year. Based on these results, we concluded that care should be taken while diagnosing Campylobacter infection in children. Our newly modified LAMP method is a rapid, easy, and useful method for this diagnosis.

This study examined the virucidal effects of five types of alcohol-based sanitizers including malic acid and sodium malate, or monoethanolamin, in 58 vol % ethanol (pH 4.0, pH 7.1, pH 11.8), 65 vol % ethanol (pH 4.2), and 75 vol % ethanol (pH 4.4) against murine norovirus (MNV) and feline calicivirus (FCV). The virus titer of MNV was reduced in an ethanol dose-dependent manner under the same pH (about 4.0) condition. Virucidal effect against MNV was correlated with pH when the concentration of ethanol was constant (58 vol %). All the ethanol-based sanitizers provided sufficient virucidal effects against FCV. In conclusion, the virucidal effect of the ethanol-based sanitizer at low concentration of ethanol against norovirus (NoV) is increased when the pH is adjusted to a neutral state.