The epidemiology of enteric caliciviruses from humans: A reassessment using new diagnostics

In the United States, acute gastroenteritis is one of the most commonly not ed illnesses on hospital discharge records and death certificates, yet few of these cases have an etiologic diagnosis. The application of new molecula r diagnostic methods has shown caliciviruses (previously referred to as the Norwalk family of viruses or small round structured viruses) to be the mos t common cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) outbreaks in the United State s, and they may emerge as a common cause of sporadic cases of AGE among bot h children and adults. Novel molecular methods have permitted outbreak stra ins to be traced back to their common source and have led to the first iden tification of virus in implicated vehicles of infection-water, shellfish, a nd foods contaminated both at their source and by food handlers. The broad application of these methods to routine diagnosis in hospitals and public h ealth Laboratories is advancing our appreciation of the full burden of cali civirus-associated diarrhea, and it is opening new avenues for its preventi on and control.