BACKGROUND: Human Caliciviruses, including sapovirus, are important causes of gastroenteritis in children and adults. The present study determined the detection rate of sapovirus (SaV) with acute gastroenteritis in hospitalized children and describes the molecular epidemiology of SaV circulating in Seoul, Korea. METHODS: In total, 4,583 stool specimens from hospitalized patients with acute gastroenteritis were collected (2,058 females and 2,525 males) in Seoul and were tested for SaVs. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: SaV GI was classified further into two genotypes and GI-1 strains were responsible for two of the cases and GI-2 constituted a further three of the SaV gastroenteritis cases in this study. A phylogenetic analysis of these SaV cases revealed that the GI-1 and GI-2 strains tend to be closely associated with each other and were classified into Asian and European strains. This is the first molecular characterization report of SaV detected in Korea. The GI-1 and GI-2 strains were detected from hospitalized children with acute gastroenteritis.
BACKGROUND:Human Caliciviruses, including sapovirus, are important causes of gastroenteritis in children and adults. The present study determined the detection rate of sapovirus (SaV) with acute gastroenteritis in hospitalized children and describes the molecular epidemiology of SaV circulating in Seoul, Korea. METHODS: In total, 4,583 stool specimens from hospitalized patients with acute gastroenteritis were collected (2,058 females and 2,525 males) in Seoul and were tested for SaVs. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: SaV GI was classified further into two genotypes and GI-1 strains were responsible for two of the cases and GI-2 constituted a further three of the SaV gastroenteritis cases in this study. A phylogenetic analysis of these SaV cases revealed that the GI-1 and GI-2 strains tend to be closely associated with each other and were classified into Asian and European strains. This is the first molecular characterization report of SaV detected in Korea. The GI-1 and GI-2 strains were detected from hospitalized children with acute gastroenteritis.