Evaluation of immunochromatography tests for detection of novel GII.17 norovirus in stool samples

A novel GII.17 norovirus has emerged as a major cause of epidemic and endemic acute gastroenteritis in several countries in Asia. We used a small panel of stool samples in which GII.17 virus had been quantified by real-time RT-PCR to evaluate four commercially available norovirus immunochromatography (IC) kits. At least 10⁸ copies/mL of GII.17 virus were required by each IC kit for a positive result, which is 1,000-fold more than that reported for these assays for GII.4 viruses.