To the Editor: Norovirus, previously known as the Norwalk agent, is a recognised cause of acute diarrhoeal illness in all age groups, but its significance in hospitalised children is poorly described. Noroviruses cause infection worldwide and year-round, with a distinct increase in disease occurrence in colder months.1
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- 1 Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW.
- 2 University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW.
Correspondence: elizabe2@chw.edu.au
- 1. Mounts AW, Ando T, Koopmans M, et al. Cold weather seasonality of gastroenteritis associated with Norwalk-like viruses. J Infect Dis 2000; 181 (2 Suppl): 284S-287S.
- 2. Carlin JB, Chondros P, Masendycz P, et al. Rotavirus infection and rates of hospitalisation for acute gastroenteritis in young children in Australia, 1993–1996. Med J Aust 1998; 169: 252-256. <MJA full text>
- 3. Davidson G, Elliott EJ, Kirkwood C, et al. Preventing rotavirus gastroenteritis: do you have the facts? J Paediatr Child Health 2007; 43: 564-567.
- 4. Victoria M, Carvalho-Costa FA, Heinemann MB, et al. Prevalence and molecular epidemiology of noroviruses in hospitalized children with acute gastroenteritis in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2004. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2007; 26: 602-606.
- 5. Kirkwood CD, Clark R, Bogdanovic-Sakran N, et al. A 5-year study of the prevalence and genetic diversity of human caliciviruses associated with sporadic cases of acute gastroenteritis in young children admitted to hospital in Melbourne, Australia. J Med Virol 2005; 77: 96-101.
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