A novel picornavirus associated with gastroenteritis

Abstract

A novel picornavirus genome was sequenced, showing 42.6%, 35.2%, and 44.6% of deduced amino acid identities corresponding to the P1, P2, and P3 regions, respectively, of the Aichi virus. Divergent strains of this new virus, which we named salivirus, were detected in 18 stool samples from Nigeria, Tunisia, Nepal, and the United States. A statistical association was seen between virus shedding and unexplained cases of gastroenteritis in Nepal (P = 0.0056). Viruses with approximately 90% nucleotide similarity, named klassevirus, were also recently reported in three cases of unexplained diarrhea from the United States and Australia and in sewage from Spain, reflecting a global distribution and supporting a pathogenic role for this new group of picornaviruses.

FIG. 1.

Genome organization of human salivirus NG-J1.

FIG. 2.

Phylogenetic relationship of saliviruses with representative species from each picornavirus genus, based on amino acid similarity of P1 region using neighbor-joining method with p-distance and 1,000 bootstrap replications.

FIG. 3.

Phylogenetic analysis of saliviruses from four sample cohorts based on the translated partial 3D region amplified by diagnostic nested RT-PCR. NG, Nigeria, TN, Tunisia, NP, Nepal, MN, Minnesota.