Norovirus excretion in an aged-care setting tu2008norovirus
This study investigates norovirus genogroup II excretion during an outbreak of gastroenteritis in an aged-care facility in New South Wales, Australia, in June 2003. The outbreak affected 28 patients and 43 staff members. Stool specimens were collected from 14 volunteers (6 males and 8 females, median age 85 years) every 3 to 7 days from the onset of illness until the second consecutive negative result. The study aimed to determine the duration of viral excretion and the viral load decay rate using quantitative PCR assays. The average duration of viral shedding was 28.7 days, with a viral decay rate of 0.76 per day.
Analytes
stool_norovirus_viral_load
Norovirus GII RNA quantified in stool samples using real-time nested reverse transcriptase-PCR. The assay targets a highly conserved region including 55 bp at the 3′ end of the polymerase and 344 bp at the 5′ end of the capsid.
Measurements only — no shedding model is fitted to this analyte, usually because it is sampled once per participant, leaving no trajectory to fit, or because nothing was ever detected. Open triangles are non-detects, drawn at the assay's censoring limit. See the modelling methods for what these estimates do and do not support.