Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Aug;39(4):556-564.
doi: 10.1016/j.virs.2024.05.010. Epub 2024 May 30.

Diverse genotypes of norovirus genogroup I and II contamination in environmental water in Thailand during the COVID-19 outbreak from 2020 to 2022

Kattareeya Kumthip  1 , Pattara Khamrin  1 , Aksara Thongprachum  2 , Rungnapa Malasao  3 , Arpaporn Yodmeeklin  1 , Hiroshi Ushijima  4 , Niwat Maneekarn  5
Affiliations

Diverse genotypes of norovirus genogroup I and II contamination in environmental water in Thailand during the COVID-19 outbreak from 2020 to 2022

Kattareeya Kumthip et al. Virol Sin. 2024 Aug.

Abstract

Noroviruses (NoVs) are the most significant viral pathogens associated with waterborne and foodborne outbreaks of nonbacterial acute gastroenteritis in humans worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and diversity of NoVs contaminated in the environmental water in Chiang Mai, Thailand. A total of 600 environmental water samples were collected from ten sampling sites in Chiang Mai from July 2020 to December 2022. The presence of NoV genogroups I (GI), GII, and GIV were examined using real-time RT-PCR assay. The genotype of the virus was determined by nucleotide sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The results showed that NoV GI and GII were detected at 8.5% (51/600) and 11.7% (70/600) of the samples tested, respectively. However, NoV GIV was not detected in this study. NoV circulated throughout the year, with a higher detection rate during the winter season. Six NoV GI genotypes (GI.1-GI.6) and eight NoV GII genotypes (GII.2, GII.3, GII.7, GII.8, GII.10, GII.13, GII.17, and GII.21) were identified. Among 121 NoV strains detected, GII.17 was the most predominant genotype (24.8%, 30 strains), followed by GII.2 (21.5%, 26 strains), GI.3 (17.4%, 21 strains), and GI.4 (16.5%, 20 strains). Notably, NoV GII.3, GII.7, GII.8, and GII.10 were detected for the first time in water samples in this area. This study provides insight into the occurrence and seasonal pattern of NoV along with novel findings of NoV strains in environmental water in Thailand during the COVID-19 outbreak. Our findings emphasize the importance of further surveillance studies to monitor viral contamination in environmental water.

Keywords: Detection; Environmental water; Norovirus (NoVs); Thailand; Wastewater.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest relevant to this article.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A map of sampling sites at 10 different locations in the city of Chiang Mai, Thailand. The country map was generated by using mapchart.net, and the sampling sites 1–10 are marked on their respective locations on Google Maps.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Distribution of norovirus genotypes (A) and seasonality of different norovirus genotypes detected in this study (B).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Monthly detection of different norovirus genotypes in environmental waters in Chiang Mai, Thailand from July 2020 to December 2022.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Phylogenetic tree of the partial VP1 sequences of norovirus GI strains detected in environmental waters in this study (blue color letter) and the norovirus GI reference strains detected in human stool samples and water samples worldwide. The tree was constructed by MEGA X software using Maximum likelihood method with best fit model TN93 ​+ ​G ​+ ​I. Bootstrap value of 1000 replicates was set. The branch length indicates the number of substitutions per site.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Phylogenetic tree of the partial VP1 sequences of norovirus GII strains detected in environmental waters in this study (red color letter) and norovirus GII reference strains detected in human stool samples and water samples worldwide. The tree was constructed by MEGA X software using Maximum likelihood method with Best fit model K2 ​+ ​G. Bootstrap value of 1000 replicates was set. The branch length indicates the number of substitutions per site.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Boonchan M., Motomura K., Inoue K., Ode H., Chu P.Y., Lin M., Iwatani Y., Ruchusatsawat K., Guntapong R., Tacharoenmuang R., Chantaroj S., Tatsumi M., Takeda N., Sangkitporn S. Distribution of norovirus genotypes and subtypes in river water by ultra-deep sequencing-based analysis. Lett. Appl. Microbiol. 2017;65:98–104. - PubMed
    1. Cannon J.L., Barclay L., Collins N.R., Wikswo M.E., Castro C.J., Magana L.C., Gregoricus N., Marine R.L., Chhabra P., Vinjé J. Genetic and epidemiologic trends of norovirus outbreaks in the United States from 2013 to 2016 demonstrated emergence of novel GII.4 recombinant viruses. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2017;55:2208–2221. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chhabra P., de Graaf M., Parra G.I., Chan M.C., Green K., Martella V., Wang Q., White P.A., Katayama K., Vennema H., Koopmans M.P.G., Vinjé J. Updated classification of norovirus genogroups and genotypes. J. Gen. Virol. 2019;100:1393–1406. - PMC - PubMed
    1. da Silva A.K., Le Saux J.C., Parnaudeau S., Pommepuy M., Elimelech M., Le Guyader F.S. Evaluation of removal of noroviruses during wastewater treatment, using real-time reverse transcription-PCR: different behaviors of genogroups I and II. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 2007;73:7891–7897. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Douglas A., Sandmann F.G., Allen D.J., Celma C.C., Beard S., Larkin L. Impact of COVID-19 on national surveillance of norovirus in England and potential risk of increased disease activity in 2021. J. Hosp. Infect. 2021;112:124–126. - PubMed

MeSH terms