Cosavirus infection in persons with and without gastroenteritis, Brazil

Abstract

To determine possible cosavirus association with clinical disease, we used real-time reverse transcription PCR to test children and HIV-positive adults in Brazil with and without gastroenteritis. Thirteen (3.6%) of 359 children with gastroenteritis tested positive, as did 69 (33.8%) of 204 controls. Low prevalence, frequent viral co-infections, and low fecal cosavirus RNA concentrations argue against human pathogenicity.

Figure 1

Detection pattern of cosavirus in children with gastroenteritis throughout different seasons during 2006–2007, Brazil. Temperature was not plotted because it varied little from mean 25.2°C through the year (range 23.6–26.7°C). Precipitation data were obtained from the German Weather Service and represent means throughout 1961–1990.

Figure 2

Co-infections and fecal cosavirus (CosV) RNA concentrations. A) Co-infections with established viral causes of diarrhea in children with gastroenteritis who were positive for CosV. Viral RNA and DNA were detected by real-time PCR (methods available upon request) in the same eluates used for CosV detection. B) Boxplot generated with SPSS V19 (SPSS, Munich, Germany) of log₁₀ CosV RNA concentrations per gram of feces in children with gastroenteritis and healthy control children from a child-care center in 2008 and 2011. Boxes show the medians and interquartile ranges (box length). The whiskers represent an extension of the 25th or 75th percentiles by 1.5× the interquartile range. Datum points beyond the whisker range are considered as outliers and marked as circles. GGI/II, genogroups I and II.