Norwalk virus
Norwalk virus is known as winter vomiting virus, which was originally named after Norwalk, Ohio, in the United States, where an outbreak of acute viral gastroenteritis occurred among children at Bronson Elementary School in November 1968. Viruses are classified into family, genus, and species by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, and
Norwalk virus is the only species of the genus
Norovirus, which belongs to the family
Caliciviridae. Formerly,
Norwalk virus was included in the genus
"Norwalk-like virus" between 1999 and 2002, and the "
Norwalk-like virus" was replaced with
Norovirus on the 8th Report of the ICTV in response to the approval of the new name of
Norovirus at the 12th International Congress of Virology in Paris. Because the genus
Norovirus has only one species as well as the fact the genus "
Norwalk-like virus" was officially replaced with the genus
Norovirus, these often cause confusion on the correct usage of the term
Norovirus and that of
Norwalk virus.