Evidence of Immunity Induced by Naturally Acquired Rotavirus and Norwalk Virus Infection on Two Remote Panamanian Islands

Abstract

For better understanding of the role of humoral immunity in ameliorating infections with rotavirus (RV) and Norwalk virus (NW), 305 Cuna Indians living on two isolated islands located off Panama's Carribean coast were surveyed daily for diarrhea over a seven-month period. Nine (8%) of 108 persons with a baseline RV antibody titer of greater than 1:4 developed RV infection compared with 70 (46%) of 151 persons with a baseline RV antibody titer of less than 1:4 (P less than .001). Thirty-eight (25%) of 151 persons of all ages with baseline RV antibody titer of less than 1:4 had at least one episode of RV diarrhea compared with 6 (6%) of 108 persons who had baseline RV antibody titers of greater than 1:4 (P less than .001). Thirty-two (47%) of 68 persons of all ages who had a baseline NW antibody titer of less than 1:100 developed NW infection compared with 30 (13%) of 237 persons with a baseline NW titer of greater than 1:100 (P less than .001). The high NW and RV infection rates and the excellent levels of protection provided by specific preexisting humoral antibody to these agents should promote activities aimed at developing vaccines for preventing these infections.

Norovirus capsid protein expressed in yeast forms virus‐like particles and stimulates systemic and mucosal immunity in mice following an oral administration of raw yeast extracts

“…This result is consistent with the finding in the volunteer studies and outbreak investigations, in which short-term (6-14 weeks) protective immunity was demonstrated against homologous NVs [Dolin et al, 1972;Wyatt et al, 1974] and the presence of serum antibody correlated with resistance to NV infection [Black et al, 1982;Nakata et al, 1985;Ryder et al, 1985]. However, controversies about the antibody protection against NVs have also been reported.…”

Seroprevalence and seroincidence of Norwalk-like virus infection among Brazilian infants and children

“…The overall IDR of 0.7 NLV seroconversions per child-year in children less than 4 years of age that we observed is similar to that reported by Ryder et al (1985) in young children in rural Panama (0.63) but is higher than the NLV seroincidence rates reported by three other longitudinal studies of NLV infection in children in Canada (<0.001-0.19), Finland (0.27) and rural Bangladesh (0.29) [Gurwith et al, 1983;Lew et al, 1994;Black et al, 1982]. Yet, our estimate of NLV seroincidence is likely to be an underestimate of the total burden of human calicivirus infection in this study population.…”

“…Many studies have reported that a high percentage of children in developing countries have antibodies to NLVs [Greenberg et al, 1979;Echeverria et al, 1983;Ryder et al, 1985;Cukor et al, 1980;Black et al, 1982;Gabbay et al, 1994;Jiang et al, 1995b], and four studies have examined NLV seroincidence in young children in rural Bangladesh, rural Panama, Canada, and Finland [Black et al, 1982;Ryder et al, 1985;Gurwith et al, 1983;Lew et al, 1994], but the impact of NLV infection on child health is still largely unknown. This study reports an association between NLV seroconversion and vomiting in young children and evaluates NLV seroincidence among urban children in a developing country.…”

Seroepidemiological study of genogroup I and II calicivirus infections in South and Southern Africa

“…The levels of exposure to these viruses were similar to that reported for Kuwaitis (98% and 96%, respectively) and for foreign workers in Kuwait (98% and 95%, respectively) [Dimitrov et al, 1997]. Antibodies against NV, which has been examined more extensively, were also high in Panama [98%, Ryder et al, 1985], Indonesia, Papua New Guinea [90% and 100%, Numata et al, 1994], and Australian aborigines [94%, Parker et al, 1994].…”