Acute infectious gastroenteritis is an extremely common illness,second in frequency only to acute respiratory illness amongNorth American families. Although it had long been suspectedthat such illnesses were caused by viruses, it was only afterclinical and laboratory studies were carried out over the pastthree decades that causative viruses were identified.1,2 Amongthe most prominent are a novel group of viruses originally referredto as Norwalk-like agents — named after Norwalk, Ohio,where an outbreak of illness was caused by the prototype agent— and now called noroviruses.
Dr. Dolin is a professor of medicine (microbiology and molecular genetics) and dean for academic and clinical programs at Harvard Medical School, Boston.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Glass, R. I., Parashar, U. D., Estes, M. K.
(2009). Norovirus Gastroenteritis. NEJM
361: 1776-1785
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