Circulation of 3 lineages of a novel Saffold cardiovirus in humans

Emerg Infect Dis. 2008 Sep;14(9):1398-405. doi: 10.3201/eid1409.080570.

Abstract

Cardioviruses cause serious disease, mainly in rodents, including diabetes, myocarditis, encephalomyelitis, and multiple sclerosis-like disseminated encephalomyelitis. Recently, a human virus isolate obtained 25 years ago, termed Saffold virus, was sequenced and classified as a cardiovirus. We conducted systematic molecular screening for Saffold-like viruses in 844 fecal samples from patients with gastroenteritis from Germany and Brazil, across all age groups. Six cardioviruses were identified in patients <6 years of age. Viral loads were 283,305-5,044,412,175 copies/g of stool. Co-infections occurred in 4 of 6 children. No evidence for outbreak-like epidemic patterns was found. Phylogenetic analysis identified 3 distinct genetic lineages. Viral protein 1 amino acids were 67.9%-77.7% identical and had a distance of at least 39.4% from known cardioviruses. Because closely related strains were found on 2 continents, global distribution in humans is suspected. Saffold-like viruses may be the first human cardiovirus species to be identified.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Base Sequence
  • Brazil / epidemiology
  • Cardiovirus / classification
  • Cardiovirus / genetics*
  • Cardiovirus Infections / epidemiology*
  • Cardiovirus Infections / virology*
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Feces / virology
  • Gastroenteritis / epidemiology
  • Gastroenteritis / virology
  • Germany / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Middle Aged
  • Oligonucleotides
  • RNA, Viral
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

Substances

  • Oligonucleotides
  • RNA, Viral