[The relationship between epidemic gastroenteritis caused by Norwalk viruses (NVs) and acute gastroenteritis in children--based on the history of NVs in Japan].

Norwalk viruses(NVs) are well known pathogens that can cause acute nonbacterial epidemic gastroenteritis in adults as well as acute gastroenteritis in children. In food poisoning cases due to raw oysters, NVs is considered as an important pathogen and the molecular epidemiological studies of NVs are the most suitable method to trace these routes of infections in conjunction with oyster supply mechanism. Furthermore, the prevalence of genotypes of NVs which are detected from cases of acute gastroenteritis in children may provide us with useful information for the epidemiological study of acute nonbacterial epidemic gastroenteritis, because investigations of acute nonbacterial epidemic gastroenteritis might be revealed to be only a piece of infiltration of NVs in nature.