Abstract: Viral gastroenteritis,also known as viral diarrhea,is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in infants and young children worldwide.At present,the primary goal of prevention and control of viral diarrhea is to decrease the incidence of severe diarrhea in infants,reduce infant mortality,and curb the outbreak of viral diarrhea effectively.There are many kinds of pathogens that can cause viral diarrhea,with Rotavirus (RV) and Norovirus (NV) being the two important pathogens.RV is the primary pathogen of severe diarrhea in infants and children,and it is also the target for the prevention and control of viral diarrhea.However,the number of outbreaks of diarrhea in China has increased significantly in recent years.As the primary pathogen of these outbreaks,NV has the characteristics of rapid variation,strong environmental resistance,low dose infection and diversity of routes of transmission.NV infection has aroused widespread concern of governments and people and become one of the important issues affecting the public health and safety of the general population.The improvement in health status has little effect on the control of viral diarrhea.This article summarizes the etiology and epidemic characteristics of viral diarrhea,discusses the main problems of its prevention and control,and reviews the molecular epidemiological characteristics and variation of NV causing diarrhea outbreaks.