Rui Qi1, Chao Ye2, Cong Chen1, Ping Yao1, Feifei Hu1, Qin Lin3. 1. Changzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. 2. Center for Endemic Disease Control, Harbin Medical University, China. 3. Changzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. Electronic address: czcdcjc@163.com.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: We estimated the status of norovirus infection and prevention in kindergartens and primary schools and identified poor areas for which future education is needed. We evaluated the knowledge, attitude, behavior, requirements of outbreak prevention, and rate of asymptomatic carriers. METHODS: Two self-administered questionnaires were conducted for data collection. Five hundred seventy-four teachers from kindergartens and primary schools and 3,114 students from primary schools in Changzhou city were sampled for questionnaire investigation. In addition, 511 rectal swabs from healthy children were taken for norovirus detection. RESULTS: Twenty-one of 511 children were asymptomatically infected with norovirus. The rate of asymptomatic norovirus infection children in kindergartens was 2.7% and 4.7% in primary schools. Nineteen of 21 positive samples were GII strains, the other 2 were GI strains. In addition, we found that primary schools were less prepared to prevent norovirus outbreaks than kindergartens. Settings in the suburban counties needed more education on norovirus prevention. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study emphasize the need for training of primary schools and suburban schools about norovirus prevention. Asymptomatic norovirus infection should receive more attention.
BACKGROUND: We estimated the status of norovirus infection and prevention in kindergartens and primary schools and identified poor areas for which future education is needed. We evaluated the knowledge, attitude, behavior, requirements of outbreak prevention, and rate of asymptomatic carriers. METHODS: Two self-administered questionnaires were conducted for data collection. Five hundred seventy-four teachers from kindergartens and primary schools and 3,114 students from primary schools in Changzhou city were sampled for questionnaire investigation. In addition, 511 rectal swabs from healthy children were taken for norovirus detection. RESULTS: Twenty-one of 511 children were asymptomatically infected with norovirus. The rate of asymptomatic norovirus infectionchildren in kindergartens was 2.7% and 4.7% in primary schools. Nineteen of 21 positive samples were GII strains, the other 2 were GI strains. In addition, we found that primary schools were less prepared to prevent norovirus outbreaks than kindergartens. Settings in the suburban counties needed more education on norovirus prevention. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study emphasize the need for training of primary schools and suburban schools about norovirus prevention. Asymptomatic norovirus infection should receive more attention.