pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Host genetic factors affect susceptibility to norovirus infections in Burkina Faso - PubMed

  • ️Tue Jan 01 2013

Host genetic factors affect susceptibility to norovirus infections in Burkina Faso

Johan Nordgren et al. PLoS One. 2013.

Abstract

Norovirus (NoV) constitutes the second most common viral pathogen causing pediatric diarrhea after rotavirus. In Africa, diarrhea is a major health problem in children, and yet few studies have been performed regarding NoV. The association of histo-blood group antigens (HBGA) and susceptibility to NoV infection is well established in Caucasian populations with non-secretors being resistant to many common NoV strains. No study regarding HBGA and NoV susceptibility has yet been performed in Africa. We collected 309 stool and 208 saliva samples from diarrheal children in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; May 2009 to March 2010. NoV was detected using real-time PCR, and genotyped by sequencing. Saliva samples were ABO, Lewis and secretor phenotyped using in house ELISA assays. NoV was detected in 12% (n = 37) of the samples. The genotype diversity was unusually large; overall the 37 positive samples belonged to 14 genotypes. Only children <2 years of age were NoV positive and the GII.4 NoVs were more frequent in the late dry season (Jan-May). NoV infections were observed less in children with the secretor-negative phenotype or blood group A (OR 0.18; p = 0.012 and OR 0.31; p = 0.054; respectively), with two non-secretors infected with genotypes GII.7 and GII.4 respectively. Lewis-negative (Le(a-b-)) children, representing 32% of the study population, were susceptible to GII, but were not infected with any NoV GI. GII.4 strains preferentially infected children with blood group B whereas secretor-positive children with blood group O were infected with the largest variety of genotypes. This is the first study identifying host genetic factors associated with susceptibility to NoV in an African population, and suggests that while the non-secretor phenotype provides protection; the Lewis b antigen is not necessary for GII infection.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Temporal distribution of norovirus genogroups/genotypes in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from end of May 2009 to March 2010; each tick representing 3 weeks.

Rainy season (June-September), cold dry season (December-February).

Figure 2
Figure 2. Phylogenetic analysis of the NS region (nt 1–301, ORF2) of NoV GI strains from Burkina Faso, May 2009–March 2010 with references strains from all known GI genotypes and most similar NoV strains detected in sub-Saharan Africa (panel A).

Phylogenetic analysis of the NS region (nt 1–274) of NoV GII strains from Burkina Faso, May 2009–March 2010 with references strains from all known GII genotypes and most similar identities detected in sub-Saharan Africa (panel B). The Burkina Faso strains are marked with filled circles. Scale bar represents the number of substitutions per site and bootstrap values are shown at branch nodes (values of <50% are not shown).

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Patel MM, Widdowson MA, Glass RI, Akazawa K, Vinje J, et al. (2008) Systematic literature review of role of noroviruses in sporadic gastroenteritis. Emerg Infect Dis 14: 1224–1231. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bucardo F, Lindgren PE, Svensson L, Nordgren J (2011) Low prevalence of rotavirus and high prevalence of norovirus in hospital and community wastewater after introduction of rotavirus vaccine in Nicaragua. PLoS One 6: e25962. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Puustinen L, Blazevic V, Salminen M, Hamalainen M, Rasanen S, et al. (2011) Noroviruses as a major cause of acute gastroenteritis in children in Finland, 2009–2010. Scand J Infect Dis 43: 804–808. - PubMed
    1. Zheng DP, Ando T, Fankhauser RL, Beard RS, Glass RI, et al. (2006) Norovirus classification and proposed strain nomenclature. Virology 346: 312–323. - PubMed
    1. Wang QH, Han MG, Cheetham S, Souza M, Funk JA, et al. (2005) Porcine noroviruses related to human noroviruses. Emerg Infect Dis 11: 1874–1881. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Swedish Research Council [grant number 10392]. (www.vr.se). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.