Klassevirus Infection in Children | CDC EID

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Volume 16, Number 10–October 2010
Dispatch
Klassevirus Infection in Children, South Korea

Tae-Hee Han, Cheol-Hwan Kim, Ju-Young Chung Comments to Author, Sang-Hun Park, and Eung-Soo Hwang
Author affiliations: Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea (T.-H. Han, J.-Y. Chung); Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul (C.-H. Kim); Seoul Metropolitan Government Research Institute of Public Health and Environment, Seoul (S.-H. Park); and Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul (E.-S. Hwang)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
To investigate prevalence and clinical characteristics of klassevirus in South Korea, we performed molecular screening in fecal and nasopharyngeal samples from hospitalized children with gastroenteritis. A total of 26 (8.8%) of 294 fecal samples were positive for klassevirus. Klassevirus may be a possible cause of gastroenteritis.

Identification of new picornaviruses (family Picornaviridae) in fecal samples has increased because of new molecular methods (1,2), but clinical significance is not clear. The genus Kobuvirus belongs to the family Picornaviridae and contains 3 species: Aichi virus, Bovine kobuvirus, and Porcine kobuvirus. Aichi virus was first identified as an etiologic agent of gastroenteritis, but the connection has not yet been proven (3).

In 2009, Holtz et al. (4) identified a new picornavirus, kobu-like virus (klassevirus), associated with feces and sewage, in a fecal sample from a child from Australia; the complete genome of this virus has been reported (5). However, because the prevalence of klassevirus-1 and its clinical role in gastroenteritis remain unclear, we investigated its prevalence and clinical characteristics in South Korea.

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Klassevirus Infection in Children | CDC EID

Suggested Citation for this Article

Chung J-Y, Han T-H, Kim C-H, Park S-H, Hwang E-S. Klassevirus infection in children, South Korea. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2010 Oct [date cited]. http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/16/10/1623.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1610.100539

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Address for correspondence: Ju-Young Chung, SanggyePaik Hospital, Inje University, College of Medicine–Pediatrics, 761-1 Sanggye 7-Dong, Nowon-Gu Seoul 139-707, Republic of Korea; email: chungjy@paik.ac.kr