Norovirus epidemiology in Africa : a review

dc.contributor.authorMans, Janet
dc.contributor.authorArmah, George E.
dc.contributor.authorSteele, Andrew Duncan
dc.contributor.authorTaylor, Maureen B.
dc.contributor.emailjanet.mans@up.ac.zaen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-07-27T08:44:39Z
dc.date.available2016-07-27T08:44:39Z
dc.date.issued2016-04-26
dc.description.abstractNorovirus (NoV) is recognised as a leading cause of gastroenteritis worldwide across all age groups. The prevalence and diversity of NoVs in many African countries is still unknown, although early sero-prevalence studies indicated widespread early infection. Reports on NoVs in Africa vary widely in terms of study duration, population groups and size, inclusion of asymptomatic controls, as well as genotyping information. This review provides an estimate of NoV prevalence and distribution of genotypes of NoVs in Africa. Inclusion criteria for the review were study duration of at least 6 months, population size of >50 and diagnosis by RT-PCR. As regions used for genotyping varied, or genotyping was not always performed, this was not considered as an inclusion criteria. A literature search containing the terms norovirus+Africa yielded 74 publications. Of these 19 studies from 14 out of the 54 countries in Africa met the inclusion criteria. Data from studies not meeting the inclusion criteria, based on sample size or short duration, were included as discussion points. The majority of studies published focused on children, under five years of age, hospitalised with acute gastroenteritis. The mean overall prevalence was 13.5% (range 0.8– 25.5%) in children with gastroenteritis and 9.7% (range 7–31%) in asymptomatic controls, where tested. NoV GII.4 was the predominant genotype identified in most of the studies that presented genotyping data. Other prevalent genotypes detected included GII.3 and GII.6. In conclusion, NoV is a common pathogen in children with diarrhoea in Africa, with considerable carriage in asymptomatic children. There is however, a paucity of data on NoV infection in adults.en_ZA
dc.description.departmentMedical Microbiologyen_ZA
dc.description.librarianam2016en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://www.plosone.orgen_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMans J, Armah GE, Steele AD, Taylor MB (2016) Norovirus Epidemiology in Africa: A Review. PLoS ONE 11(4): e0146280. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146280.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1932-6203
dc.identifier.other10.1371/journal.pone.0146280
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/56054
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherPublic Library of Scienceen_ZA
dc.rights© 2016 Mans et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.en_ZA
dc.subjectAfricaen_ZA
dc.subjectNorovirusen_ZA
dc.subjectGastroenteritisen_ZA
dc.subjectRT-PCRen_ZA
dc.titleNorovirus epidemiology in Africa : a reviewen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA

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