ABSTRACT
Gastroenteritis viruses are basically of six kinds, rotaviruses, astroviruses, noroviruses, sapoviruses, coronaviruses and adenoviruses (Fig. 3). Most types of corona-and adenoviruses cause infection in the respiratory tract but some types also or exclusively give gastroenteritis symptoms. They are all shed through faeces but only the types that cause gastroenteritis have been proven to spread through the faecal-oral route. All mentioned gastroenteritis causing viruses have the potential to spread through food and water. Noroviruses are the most recognized food-and waterborne viruses and are today considered the most common of all foodborne pathogens. Other viruses that are shed through faeces are hepatitis A virus (HAV) and enteroviruses, which belong to the Picornavirus family.
1 National Food Agency, Box 622, SE - 751 26 Uppsala, Sweden. Email: magnus.simonsson@slv.se 2 Clinical Virology, Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, Academic Hospital,
