Norovirus genotypes involved in the outbreaks of gastroenteritis in Croatia during the winter season 2004--2005.

Seven outbreaks and four sporadic cases of the non-bacterial gastroenteritis caused by a norovirus (NoV) were detected in Croatia between November 2004 and February 2005. An enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and three different RT-PCRs for the viral polymerase (ORF1 RT-PCR) and genogroup I (GI) or II (GII) of capsid gene regions (GI-ORF2 RT-PCR; GII-ORF2 RT-PCR) were performed to detect NoV in 21 stool samples. To characterize NoVs, sequencing of the ORF1 region was performed on 12 RT-PCR positive samples, whereas the ORF2 region was sequenced for 5 cases. Four outbreaks were caused by the genotype GII.4 (Lordsdale) and one outbreak was caused by the genotype GI.1 (Norwalk). One of the outbreaks was characterized as potentially mixed GII.4 and GI.1 infection. In the monitored period, genotype GII.4 dominated as the cause of noroviral infections in adults.

[Subtypes of respiratory syncytial viruses]. / Podtipovi respiratornoga sincicijskog virusa.

Antigenically the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is of two types: A and B. Five structural proteins express virus type differences. Antigenic and genetic differences among individual strains of the same virus type are classed accordingly by monoclonal antibody reactivity into antigenic subtypes; for nucleotide sequence and restriction maps of individual gene polymerase chain reaction products they have different genetic categories: SHL 1-6, NP 1-6. Still unproved is the association between the virus-caused clinical picture severity and virus type. One type or both may be the causative agents of an RSV epidemic. Between 1988 and 1994, both types of RSV strains circulated in Central Europe, as well as the different subtypes within each type; type A, particularly subtype A1, was absolutely dominant. RSV isolates were of genotypes SHL 2, SHL 1/3/4, SHL 5, NP 1. They occurred in the same order as the genotypes shown in the rest of Europe and the world.

Clinical and epidemiological aspects of respiratory syncytial virus lower respiratory tract infections.

This paper has analyzed respiratory syncytial virus lower respiratory tract infections in 201 hospitalized children. In children with wheezing, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was significantly higher in those with pneumonia than with syndroma pertussis, while the white blood cell (WBC) count was significantly lower in patients with bronchitis than in those with bronchiolitis and syndroma pertussis. Bronchodilatators were applied in 75.6% and corticosteroids in 20% of patients. Ten patients were ventilated. Fatal disease outcome was observed in one infant. Twelve consecutive-year study of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections showed that 27.3% of these diseases were bronchiolitis and pneumonia.

Antigenic and genomic diversity of central European respiratory syncytial virus strains.

Thirty-two RSV strains recovered during the winter months of 1987/88 to 1993/94 from hospitalized children in Vienna, Austria and Zagreb, Croatia were analysed for antigenic and genetic variations. Twenty-nine of the 32 isolates investigated belonged to group A and 3 to group B, with the majority of infections caused by subgroup A1 (21 of 29). Restriction endonuclease mapping of PCR products derived from parts of the N and G gene of 18 group A strains identified 3 distinct lineages, very similar to those defined by analysis of recurrent epidemics in Birmingham, United Kingdom during the same period. Results of this study provide further information on the global pattern of RSV and show that very similar viruses are present simultaneously in widely separated areas.