For years we have assumed norovirus replicates in the gut, but studies in mice suggest it replicates in salivary glands too – a discovery that might one day lead to new treatments
could spread through the faecal-oral route – for instance, without adequate handwashing, tiny particles of faecal matter from an infected person may find their way into a non-infected person’s food.
“Now we looked into the salivary glands, and there we saw a huge amount of viral replication, at levels – pound for pound – as much as the intestine. This was really surprising to us [because] people assumed these viruses don’t spread through the saliva,” says Altan-Bonnet. “This suggests we should put in measures like wearing masks to contain gut virus outbreaks, similar to how we have treated covid-19.
What’s more, the researchers detected a surge in antibodies in the mammary glands of the adult mice 72 hours after being infected by the pups. This coincided with a drop in the amount of virus in infected pups’ intestines, suggesting that mammary gland infection could generate antibodies in the milk to help clear infections in the suckling pups.
“The fact that mothers rapidly produce protective [antibodies] for their pups when their mammary gland is infected [may be] a fantastic evolutionary response to protect their young,” saysThe researchers then extended their work and discovered that human strains of norovirus could be easily and cheaply grown in human salivary gland cells. The discovery is significant because, before now, the virus wasn’t easy to grow in the lab.
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