The detection of RVA RNA and antigenemia among children with
AGE is well established and documented [24–29]. However, few
studies have investigated the presence of NoVs in serum samples
of children with NoVs-positive AGE [12,16,17]. In the present study
we found NoVs GII in 34.1% of the stool samples collected from
children admitted to hospital with AGE. Among the positive samples,
NoVs RNA was detected in the serum of a high proportion of
the cases (43%), excluding six samples that were co-infected with
RVA. Our results showed that AGE in the group that presented NoVs
RNA detection in serum was not more severe in terms of frequency
and length of diarrhea and vomiting, fever, and leukocytosis. However,
we found a statistically significant difference in the duration
of hospitalization (p = 0.006) and stool viral load (p = 0.047) when
comparing the group of patients with and without NoVs RNA detection
in serum