Human noroviruses (hNoVs) are the single most common cause of acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis in the industrialized world but cannot be grown in simple culture systems. Different approaches for detecting hNoVs and predicting their infectivity are reviewed. Although reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) is the most widely used method to detect human noroviruses (hNoVs) it is unable to discriminate between infectious and non-infectious particles. There is therefore a dilemma in assessing the risk to human health from samples detected as positive in RT-qPCR assays. In the absence of an efficient cell, culture based detection system for hNoVs RT-qPCR methods need to differentiate RT-qPCR signals from intact infective particles, intact defective particles, degraded particles (consisting of capsid protein and virus RNA, herein referred to as ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs), and "naked" RNA. This review provides a critical analysis of methods for detecting hNoVs, and differentiating such signals with reference to relevant studies of virus infectivity, structure, inactivation, and the disassembly of virus particles during infection. The application of these methods as an adjunct to the proposed RT-qPCR European Committee for Standards (CEN) methods for the detection of hNoVs in foods and the environment is discussed.

This study aims to investigate if histo-blood group antigen (HBGA) expressing bacteria have any protective role on human norovirus (NoV) from acute heat stress. Eleven bacterial strains were included, belonging to Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae, Enterobacter aerogenes, Clostridium difficile, Bifidobacterium adolescentis, and Bifidobacterium longum. HBGA expression of the bacteria as well as binding of human NoV virus-like particles (VLPs, GI.1 and GII.4 strains) to the bacteria were detected by flow cytometry. NoV VLPs pre-incubated with HBGA expressing or non-HBGA expressing bacteria were heated and detected by both direct ELISA and porcine gastric mucin-binding assay. The NoV-binding abilities of the bacteria correlated well with their HBGA expression profiles. Two HBGA expressing E.coli (LMG8223 and LFMFP861, both GI.1 and GII.4 binders) and one non-HBGA expressing E.coli (ATCC8739, neither GI.1 nor GII.4 binder) were selected for the heat treatment test with NoV VLPs. Compared with the same cell numbers of non-HBGA expressing E.coli, the presence of HBGA-expressing E.coli could always maintain higher antigen integrity, as well as mucin-binding ability of NoV VLPs of both GI.1 and GII.4 after heat-treatment at 90°C for 2 min. These results indicate that HBGA-expressing bacteria may protect NoVs during the food processing treatments, thereby facilitating their transmission.

A comprehensive review of melanin's structure, identification methods, and biological activities, highlighting its potential for further development and diverse applications in various fields.

The anti-norovirus (anti-NoV) effect of grape seed extract (GSE) was examined by plaque assay for murine norovirus 1 (MNV-1), cell-binding reverse transcription-PCR for human NoV GII.4, and saliva-binding enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for human NoV GII.4 P particles, with or without the presence of interfering substances (dried milk and lettuce extract). GSE at 0.2 and 2 mg/ml was shown to reduce the infectivity of MNV-1 (>3-log PFU/ml) and the specific binding ability of NoV GII.4 to Caco-2 cells (>1-log genomic copies/ml), as well as of its P particles to salivary human histo-blood group antigen receptors (optical density at 450 nm of >0.8). These effects were decreased as increasing concentrations of dried milk (0.02 and 0.2%) or lettuce extract were added. Under an electron microscope, human NoV GII.4 virus-like particles showed inflation and deformation after treatment with GSE. Under conditions that simulated applications in the food industry, the anti-NoV effect of GSE using MNV-1 as a target organism was shown to be limited in surface disinfection (<1-log PFU/ml, analyzed in accordance with EN 13697:2001). However, a 1.5- to 2-log PFU/ml reduction in MNV-1 infectivity was noted when 2 mg of GSE/ml was used to sanitize water in the washing bath of fresh-cut lettuce, and this occurred regardless of the chemical oxygen demand (0 to 1,500 mg/ml) of the processing water.