Detection of norovirus infections in Denmark, 2011-2018

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningfagfællebedømt

Dokumenter

  • M. R. Korcinska
  • K. Dalsgaard Bjerre
  • L. Dam Rasmussen
  • E. Tvenstrup Jensen
  • T. Kølsen Fischer
  • A. Barrasa
  • Ethelberg, Steen

Norovirus occur very frequently yet are rarely diagnosed. In Denmark, norovirus infections are not under surveillance. We aimed to collect and describe existing laboratory-based norovirus data. National norovirus laboratory data were collected for 2011-2018, including information on patient identification number, age and sex, requesting physician, analysis date and result. We defined positive patient-episodes by using a 30-day time window and performed descriptive and time series analysis. Diagnostic methods used, were assessed through a survey. We identified 15809 patient episodes (11%) out of 142648 tested patients with an increasing trend, 9366 in 2011 vs 32260 in 2018. This corresponded with a gradual introduction of PCR-analysis in the laboratories. The highest positivity rate was in patients aged <5 years (15%) or >85 years (17%). There was a large difference in test performance over five Danish geographical regions and a marked seasonal variation with peaks from December to February. This is the first analysis of national norovirus laboratory-data in Denmark. A future laboratory-based surveillance system may benefit public health measures by describing trend, burden and severity of seasons and possibly pinpoint hospital outbreaks.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummere52
TidsskriftEpidemiology and Infection
Vol/bind148
Antal sider7
ISSN0950-2688
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2020

Antal downloads er baseret på statistik fra Google Scholar og www.ku.dk


Ingen data tilgængelig

ID: 255835614