To understand the prevalence of norovirus (NoV) diarrhea in children in Guangzhou from 2016 to 2018, and provide reliable experimental data for the diagnosis and treatment of NoV infection.

A total of 856 stool specimens from hospitalized and outpatient children with diarrhea under 12 years old were collected from January of 2016 and December of 2018. Real time RT-PCR was used to detect the nucleic acid of norovirus, and the patients were compared and analyzed in terms of age, sex and time of infection.

Among the 856 stool specimens, 259 were positive for NoV infection with a positive rate of 30.25%. The positive rates of norovirus in children with diarrhea at different ages were 35.11% (constituent ratio 53.28%) in the 0-1 year old group, 30.13% (constituent ratio 16.99%) in the 1-2 year old group and 32.47% (constituent ratio 19.31%) in the 2-3 year old group, respectively. The positive rate of children aged 0-3 years accounted for 89.58%. The peak of the incidence was from November to December (winter) and January to March (spring) (the proportion of 5 months was 81.47%). The positive rates of GI and GII norovirus were 10.9% and 19.4%, respectively.

Norovirus is one of the major pathogens for child diarrhea (0~12 years old) in the area of Guangzhou. Children aged 0 to 3 years are the susceptible population for norovirus infection. The epidemic peak is in winter and spring seasons, and GII is the major genotype.