Risk groups for clinical complications of norovirus infections: an outbreak investigation.

Norovirus infections have been described as self-limiting diseases of short duration. An investigation of a norovirus outbreak in a university hospital provided evidence for severe clinical features in patients with several underlying diseases. Clinical outcomes of norovirus infection were defined. Risk-factor analysis targeting underlying diseases and medication was performed using multivariate analyses. In five outbreak wards, 84 patients and 60 nurses were infected (an overall attack rate of 32% in patients, and 76% in nurses). The causative agent was the new variant Grimsby virus. Severe clinical features, including acute renal failure, arrhythmia and signs of acute graft organ rejection in renal transplant patients, were observed in seven (8.3%) patients. In multivariate analyses, cardiovascular disease (OR 17.1, 95% CI 2.17-403) and renal transplant (OR 13.0, 95% CI 1.63-281) were risk-factors for a potassium decrease of >20%. Age >65 years (OR 11.6, 95% CI 1.89-224) was a risk-factor for diarrhoea lasting >2 days. Immunosuppression (OR 5.7, 95% CI 1.78-20.1) was a risk-factor for a creatinine increase of >10%. Norovirus infections in patients with underlying conditions such as cardiovascular disease, renal transplant and immunosuppressive therapy may lead to severe consequences typified by decreased potassium levels, increased levels of C-reactive protein and creatine phosphokinase. In the elderly, norovirus infection may lead to an increased duration of diarrhoea. Therefore patients at risk should be hospitalised early and monitored frequently. Strict preventional measures should be implemented as early as possible to minimise the risk of nosocomial outbreaks

The Lantern Vol. 29, No. 1, December 1961

• King Fitzgerald\u27s Court • Deliberate Beyond Conception • Jean • The Dumb Superman • Epilogue to Death • Afternoon in August • Eichmann • A Nose Thumbed • Observation • The Forgetful Evening • Truditur Dies Die • The Deserted Pier • Thoughts on Love • Laughter • A Waste? • Villanelle: Interlude • Lines on a Rhetorical Question • Villanellehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1081/thumbnail.jp

The Lantern Vol. 28, No. 1, January 1961

• I Felt Horror That Day • John Ten • Term Paper: Circa 3032 A.D. • Villanelle • Lament • Joy of Bearded Boy • U.S. Foreign Policy: The Future • Contrast • Camp Crowder • Whispered Sounds • Pity, Love • Not Quite Free • Experiences of a Heroin Addict • The Hawk • The Second Apple • Reaction • Poor Family, Moving • Torch Ends Sputter in the Pall • Late Date • She\u27ll Call Mehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1079/thumbnail.jp

Detection of adenovirus hexon sequence in a cat by polymerase chain reaction (Short communication)

Adenoviral nucleic acid was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in pharyngeal and rectal swab samples of a cat seropositive for adenovirus and suffering from transient hepatic failure. The samples were taken at a one-year interval, and both faecal samples as well as the second pharyngeal sample were positive in PCR performed with general adenovirus primers. The size of the amplified products corresponded to that of the positive control. The identity of the amplicons was also confirmed by DNA sequencing. The 301 bp long hexon gene fragment was very similar to but distinguishable from the corresponding hexon sequence of human adenovirus type 2. This result suggests the possibility of persistent carrier status and shedding of adenovirus in cats

The Lantern Vol. 27, No. 3, Fall 1960

• Thoughts in DaVinici\u27s Coffeehouse • Kinesiology Class • No One is Named Alistair • The Beat Generation • The Super Highway Blues • Panic and the Mountain Peak • The Lake • Later • Ares • The Light • The Room • Thoughts After Three-Thirty • Critique • There • Organized Religion - Pro • Organized Religion - Con • Longing • Apologies to Francois Villon • The Fortune Teller • At Twilight • The Ledge • Waiting at Evening for the Sky to Fall • In Memory of a Friend • The Gentleman • Consumption • Post-Panegyric • The Everglades • Awareness • The Art of Two-Timing • Meditations of an Egyptologist • Sonnet to Mao Tse-Tung • A Strange Affair • With Us Tonight • The Form in Fronthttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1078/thumbnail.jp

Overview of virus metagenomic classification methods and their biological applications

Metagenomics poses opportunities for clinical and public health virology applications by offering a way to assess complete taxonomic composition of a clinical sample in an unbiased way. However, the techniques required are complicated and analysis standards have yet to develop. This, together with the wealth of different tools and workflows that have been proposed, poses a barrier for new users. We evaluated 49 published computational classification workflows for virus metagenomics in a literature review. To this end, we described the methods of existing workflows by breaking them up into five general steps and assessed their ease-of-use and validation experiments. Performance scores of previous benchmarks were summarized and correlations between methods and performance were investigated. We indicate the potential suitability of the different workflows for (1) time-constrained diagnostics, (2) surveillance and outbreak source tracing, (3) detection of remote homologies (discovery), and (4) biodiversity studies. We provide two decision trees for virologists to help select a workflow for medical or biodiversity studies, as well as directions for future developments in clinical viral metagenomics

The Lantern Vol. 28, No. 2, Spring 1961

• A New Bedlam • A Priori • Germ Warfare • Verse for a Sympathy Card • On Lamartine\u27s Crucifix • On Art • Hope • Hymn to the Morning • An Educator Speaks • Come Out • Insemination • A Day\u27s Hope • Laura • Walking Together • 20 September 1960 • 15 October 1960 • The Governor\u27s Dog • One of the Gang • Poem • Knowledge is Freedom • To Conservative Child • Seventeen American Skating Careers at the Zenithhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1080/thumbnail.jp

Emergence of a novel GII.17 norovirus – end of the GII.4 era?

In the winter of 2014/15 a novel GII.P17-GII.17 norovirus strain (GII.17 Kawasaki 2014) emerged, as a major cause of gastroenteritis outbreaks in China and Japan. Since their emergence these novel GII.P17-GII.17 viruses have replaced the previously dominant GII.4 genotype Sydney 2012 variant in some areas in Asia but were only detected in a limited number of cases on other continents. This perspective provides an overview of the available information on GII.17 viruses in order to gain insight in the viral and host characteristics of this norovirus genotype. We further discuss the emergence of this novel GII.P17-GII.17 norovirus in context of current knowledge on the epidemiology of noroviruses. It remains to be seen if the currently dominant norovirus strain GII.4 Sydney 2012 will be replaced in other parts of the world. Nevertheless, the public health community and surveillance systems need to be prepared in case of a potential increase of norovirus activity in the next seasons caused by this novel GII.P17-GII.17 norovirus