Evaluation and comparison of the efficiency of immunochromatography methods for norovirus detection

• Main Authors: Thongprachum A., Khamrin P., Tran D.N., Okitsu S., Mizuguchi M., Hayakawa S., Maneekarn N., Ushijima H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22783579; http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84863698008&partnerID=40&md5=5728bd2fc5197e7b432e3bb30253d56e; http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/handle/6653943832/3865
• Institution: Chiang Mai University

Background: The efficiency of a commercial immunochromatography kit (IP-NoV) was evaluated for rapid detection of norovirus in Japanese fecal specimens and its sensitivity and specificity were compared with two other commercial kits. Methods: A total of 70 samples collected from children who suffered from acute gastroenteritis in 2009-2010 were tested for norovirus by three different immunochromatography kits. RT-PCR was employed as the gold standard method. Results: The sensitivity of IP-NoV, QuickEx-Norovirus, and QuickNavi-Norovirus kits were 85.2%, 63.9%, and 55.7%, respectively. The IP-NoV kit could detect various genotypes of norovirus with higher efficiency as compared to QuickEx-Norovirus and QuickNavi-Norovirus kits. In addition, the phylogenetic analysis revealed that the majority of noroviruses circulating in Japan during 2009-2010 belonged to GII/4 variant 2006b and 2008a, which were responsible for the outbreaks worldwide. Conclusions: The findings indicated that the IC kits could be used as an alternative method for direct detection of norovirus in clinical specimens covering a wide range of norovirus genotypes circulating in Japan.