Molecular Epidemiology of Astrovirus Infection in Barcelona, Spain

Abstract

A 3-year study involving 2,347 gastroenteritis samples was conducted to determine the prevalence, time distribution, and medical significance of human astrovirus infection in Barcelona, Spain. The overall incidence of astrovirus was found to be 4.9%. Mixed infections with other enteric agents were detected in 17.2% of all astrovirus-positive samples. During the 3-year period, the highest astrovirus incidence was reported in the winter months, although infections also occurred in summer. The peak detection rate was observed in children between 2 and 4 years of age. Overall, HAstV-1 was the most prevalent type, followed by HAstV-4, HAstV-3, HAstV-8, and HAstV-2. HAstV-5, HAstV-6, and HAstV-7 were not detected during these 3 years. From our serotype data for each age group, we observed that HAstV-1, HAstV-2, and HAstV-3 affected mostly children younger than 3 years of age, while HAstV-4 and HAstV-8 had a greater impact in older children. Genetic variability was analyzed between astroviruses isolated in Barcelona and strains isolated in other parts of the world. A fourth lineage was described for HAstV-1, most likely due to the large number of assayed samples, which may also explain the high level of genetic variability observed in the astrovirus isolates.

Astrovirus infection in children living in the Central West region of Brazil

“…In children from Goiânia city, it was observed that astrovirus infections occurred in all age groups, with a higher detection rate in children up to 24 months of age. These results reinforce a previous study conducted in the same area (Cardoso et al 2002) and are also in accordance with a study carried out by Guix et al (2002) in Spain. In contrast, a higher positivity rate was observed in children older than 36 months of age in Brasília city.…”

“…The astroviruses are recognized as one of the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis in infants and young children in worldwide (Giordano et al 2001) and its seasonality is variable according to the geographic region (Naficy et al 2000, Guix et al 2002. The main symptom of the astrovirus infections is a watery and mild diarrhea, which generally results in mild diarrheic disease (Matsui & Greenberg 2001), although a recent study has described astrovirus infection related to severe dehydrating gastroenteritis among isolated Brazilian communities (Gabbay et al 2006).…”

Nationwide surveillance study of human astrovirus infections in an Italian paediatric population

“…During this survey, an additional three other genotypes (HAstV-2, -4, -5) were also detected but at low frequency. HAstV-4 and HAstV-5 have been sporadically detected in different geographical areas, and are regarded as strains of minor epidemiological relevance [1,4]. On the other hand, HAstV-2 represented the second most prevalent type detected in this study and in 2009 it appeared to be more common than HAstV-1 in the area or Parma.…”

“…Astroviruses (AstVs), family Astroviridae, are enteric viruses associated with gastroenteritis in young children in both developed and developing countries [1]. AstVs have a single-stranded positive-sense RNA genome containing three open reading frames (ORFs).…”

Astrovirus (HAstV) como agente causal de diarrea en niños Colombianos: Siete años de estudio

“…La tabla 2 se realizó para determinar la procedencia y el año en el cual se obtuvo cada cepa y relacionarlo con el resultado del comportamiento filogenético por NJ. Cuando se evalúan los HAstV, se detectan prevalencias muy bajas que no alcanzan a elevar el porcentaje de las diarreas diagnosticadas en un tipo de poblaciones como la nuestra (13)(14)(15)(16)(17).…”