Calicivirus from Novel Recovirus Genogroup in Human Diarrhea, Bangladesh - Vol. 18 No. 7 - July 2012 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

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Calicivirus from Novel Recovirus Genogroup in Human Diarrhea, Bangladesh - Vol. 18 No. 7 - July 2012 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

  
Table of Contents
Volume 18, Number 7–July 2012

Volume 18, Number 7—July 2012

Dispatch

Calicivirus from Novel Recovirus Genogroup in Human Diarrhea, Bangladesh

Article Contents

• The Study
• Conclusions
• Acknowledgment
• References
• Figure 1
• Figure 2
• Table 1
• Table 2
• Technical Appendix  [446 KB - 3 pages]
• Suggested Citation

Saskia L. Smits , Mustafizur Rahman, Claudia M.E. Schapendonk, Marije van Leeuwen, Abu S.G. Faruque, Bart L. Haagmans, Hubert P. Endtz, and Albert D.M.E. Osterhaus

Author affiliations: Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (S.L. Smits, C.M.E. Schapendonk, B.L. Haagmans, H.P. Endtz, A.D.M.E. Osterhaus); Viroclinics Biosciences B.V., Rotterdam (S.L. Smits, M. van Leeuwen, A.D.M.E. Osterhaus); and International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh (M. Rahman, A.S.G. Faruque, H.P. Endtz)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract

To identify unknown human viruses in the enteric tract, we examined 105 stool specimens from patients with diarrhea in Bangladesh. A novel calicivirus was identified in a sample from 1 patient and subsequently found in samples from 5 other patients. Phylogenetic analyses classified this virus within the proposed genus Recovirus.

Diarrhea, characterized by frequent liquid or loose stools, commonly results from gastroenteritis caused by infection with bacteria, parasites, or viruses. Patients with mild diarrhea do not require medical attention; the illness is typically self-limited, and disease symptoms usually resolve quickly. However, diarrheal diseases can result in severe illness and death worldwide and are the second leading cause of death around the world in children <5 years of age, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (1). For many cases of diarrhea in humans, no causative agent is identified.
In recent years, many novel viruses have been identified in human and animal blood, respiratory secretions, and fecal material through viral metagenomic studies consisting of random amplification in combination with next-generation sequencing methods (2–5). To identify unknown human viruses in the enteric tracts of persons with diarrhea, we performed sequence-independent amplification on purified viral nucleic acid from fecal samples obtained from patients with diarrhea in Bangladesh (6,7). We identified a novel calicivirus and classified it in the proposed genus Recovirus. Caliciviruses, which are nonenveloped, positive-stranded RNA viruses with a polyadenylated genome οf ≈6.4–8.4 kb, cause illness in animals and humans (8,9), including gastroenteritis in humans. The family Caliciviridae consists of 5 genera, Norovirus, Sapovirus, Lagovirus, Vesivirus, and Nebovirus, and 3 proposed genera, Recovirus, Valovirus, and chicken calicivirus (8–10).