Abstract
Norovirus was detected in the feces from five neonates in the growing care unit by a rapid immunochromatography (ICG) kit. However, confirmation using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), RT-loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP), and nested RT-PCR methods showed negative results from all the feces. In addition, the ICG test for the detection of norovirus was positive for four cases out of the 16 feces from other asymptomatic neonates/infants. Only one feces out of the four samples was positive by RT-LAMP. In this study, among the factors related to false positives with the norovirus ICG kit, there were no differences regarding the commencement of feeding, nutrition, and sample collection methods. Since the false positive rate of ICG in the diagnosis of norovirus infection in neonates and early infancy is high, ICG is not an appropriate method, and it is necessary to confirm the results using reliable methods like RT-PCR.
References
Kohler H, Jungert J, Korn K. Norovirus pseudo-outbreak in a neonatal intensive care unit. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2008;46:471–2.
Wiechers C, Bissinger AL, Hamprecht K, Kimmig P, Jahn G, Poets CF. Apparently non-specific results found using a norovirus antigen immunoassay for fecal specimens from neonates. J Perinatol. 2008;28:79–81.
Takahashi N, Wada T, Ikeda M. Norovirus pseudo-outbreak in neonatal intensive care unit: the high false positive rate of rapid immunochromatography testing for norovirus from neonatal stool. J. Pediatr Infect Dis Immunol. 2010:22:223–5 (in Japanese).
Fukuda S, Takao S, Kuwayama M, Shimazu Y, Miyazaki K. Rapid detection of norovirus from fecal specimens by real-time reverse transcription-loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay. J Clin Microbiol. 2006;44:1376–81.
Rockx B, De Wit M, Vennema H, Vinje J, De Bruin E, Van Duynhoven Y, et al. Natural history of human calicivirus infection: a prospective cohort study. Clin Infect Dis. 2002;35:246–53.
Moreno-Espinosa S, Farkas T, Jiang X. Human caliciviruses and pediatric gastroenteritis. Semin Pediatr Infect Dis. 2004;15:237–45.
Turcios-Ruiz RM, Axelrod P, St John K, Bullitt E, Donahue J, Robinson N, et al. Outbreak of necrotizing enterocolitis caused by norovirus in a neonatal intensive care unit. J Pediatr. 2008;153:339–44.
Garcia C, DuPont HL, Long KZ, Santos JI, Ko G. Asymptomatic norovirus infection in Mexican children. J Clin Microbiol. 2006;44:2997–3000.
Jones S, Douarre PE, O’Leary J, Corcoran D, O’Mahony J, Lucey B. Validation of a norovirus multiplex real-time RT-PCR assay for the detection of norovirus GI and GII from faeces samples. Br J Biomed Sci. 2011;68:116–9.
Thongprachum A, Khamrin P, Chaimongkol N, Malasao R, Okitsu S, Mizuguchi M, et al. Evaluation of an immunochromatography method for rapid detection of noroviruses in clinical specimens in Thailand. J Med Virol. 2010;82:2106–9.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Niizuma, T., Obinata, K., Ikari, H. et al. False positive of an immunochromatography kit for detection of norovirus in neonatal feces. J Infect Chemother 19, 171–173 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10156-012-0439-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10156-012-0439-y