Norovirus is a major
etiologic agent in worldwide
outbreaks of
gastroenteritis associated with food as well as person-to-person transmission. The ubiquitous nature of
Norovirus necessitates simple and rapid detection methods with high
accuracy and sensitivity. To this end, several investigators have evaluated the
usefulness of commercial reverse-transcription
loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) kits for detecting
Norovirus genogroups I (GI) and II (GII). In previous studies, the conventional Loopamp kit for
Norovirus GII showed a relatively high detection rate, while that for
Norovirus GI showed a relatively low detection rate. In the present study, clinical
Norovirus specimens were used to compare the detection rate of a modified Loopamp kit for
Norovirus GI with the rates of the conventional Loopamp kit for
Norovirus GI and an "in-house" RT-LAMP GI primer set, methods which had a high detection rate. Results from the present study showed that the modified Loopamp kit for
Norovirus GI had a higher detection rate for two viral
genotypes (GI.3, GI.11). On comparison with an "in-house" GII primer set using
genotype GII.4
viruses circulating recently, the detection rate by the Loopamp kit for
Norovirus GII was found to be higher, with a 98% detection rate. These results indicate the applicability of the modified LAMP kit for GI and the conventional LAMP kit for GII for detection of
Noroviruses in clinical samples. J. Med. Virol. 81:2072-2078, 2009. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
