gastrointestinal disorders
Norovirus Gastroenteritis
Diagnosis of Norovirus Gastroenteritis
Sometimes reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing Diagnosis of norovirus is usually based on clinical suspicion in a patient with typical symptoms, especially during an outbreak. Laboratory testing can confirm the diagnosis of norovirus infection using RT-PCR on a stool sample. This test is usually done as a multiplex PCR panel including a number of causes of gastroenteritis. Caution must be used when interpreting a positive test result for norovirus because there can be asymptomatic shedding, which the very sensitive PCR test can detect. A positive test result for norovirus in a patient with atypical symptoms, such as bloody diarrhea, or in a patient testing positive for another pathogen suggests that norovirus is not the cause of the gastroenteritis. 