Norwalk virus

According to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Virus, the genus Norovirus has one species, which is called "Norwalk virus" and assigned the abbreviation "NV". The norovirus was originally named the "Norwalk agent" after Norwalk, Ohio, in the United States, where an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis occurred among children at Bronson Elementary School in November 1968. In 1972, electron microscopy on stored human stool samples identified a virus, which was given the name "Norwalk virus." Numerous outbreaks with similar symptoms have been reported since. The cloning and sequencing of the Norwalk virus genome showed these viruses have a genomic organization consistent with viruses belonging to the family Caliciviridae (Kapikian 1996). The name was shortened to "norovirus" after being identified in a number of outbreaks on cruise ships and receiving attention throughout the United States. The name "norovirus" (Norovirus for the genus) was approved by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses in 2002 (ICTVdB Management 2006).