Norovirus Disease in the United States - Vol. 19 No. 8 - August 2013 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC
Table of Contents
Volume 19, Number 8–August 2013
Volume 19, Number 8—August 2013
Volume 19, Number 8—August 2013
Perspective
Norovirus Disease in the United States
Abstract
Although recognized as the leading cause of epidemic acute gastroenteritis across all age groups, norovirus has remained poorly characterized with respect to its endemic disease incidence. Use of different methods, including attributable proportion extrapolation, population-based surveillance, and indirect modeling, in several recent studies has considerably improved norovirus disease incidence estimates for the United States. Norovirus causes an average of 570–800 deaths, 56,000–71,000 hospitalizations, 400,000 emergency department visits, 1.7–1.9 million outpatient visits, and 19–21 million total illnesses per year. Persons > 65 years of age are at greatest risk for norovirus-associated death, and children < 5 years of age have the highest rates of norovirus-associated medical care visits. Endemic norovirus disease occurs year round but exhibits a pronounced winter peak and increases by ≤ 50% during years in which pandemic strains emerge. These findings support continued development and targeting of appropriate interventions, including vaccines, for norovirus disease.Before 2008, only 1 published report estimated the burden of norovirus disease in the United States (4). In that report, as part of a broader effort to estimate the US burden of foodborne disease, Mead et al. generated pathogen-specific estimates of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths, and they estimated the fraction of these outcomes caused by foodborne disease transmission. Annual norovirus-associated illnesses (23 million), hospitalizations (50,000), and deaths (310) were based on extrapolation of the norovirus-attributable proportion from a single community-based study in the Netherlands and applied to the US all-cause acute gastroenteritis incidence from the National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS) and the first Population Survey of the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet). Although limited by the absence of direct US data on norovirus prevalence or incidence, this landmark study demonstrated the predominant role of norovirus in causing foodborne disease and became the most widely cited estimate of the US norovirus disease burden for more than a decade.
We review a collection of subsequently published studies that provided population-based incidence rates of norovirus disease in the United States. By comparing the various methods and triangulating the results, we provide summary estimates of the overall US norovirus disease burden, including specific estimates by age groups and disease outcomes. This review facilitates identification of key groups that would benefit from prevention strategies aimed at controlling norovirus and provides the grist for development of appropriate interventions, including vaccines. Such data are particularly timely and relevant given that a candidate norovirus vaccine is approaching a phase 3 efficacy trial and could potentially be licensed within the next 5–7 years (5).
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