title: Prevalence and genetic diversity of human caliciviruses (HuCVs) in Mexican children.
abstract: Human caliciviruses (HuCVs) contain two genera: "Norwalk-like viruses" (NLVs) and "Sapporo-like viruses" (SLVs). The importance of the two genera as a cause of acute gastroenteritis of infants and children remains unknown. Beginning in 1989, a birth cohort of children in Mexico was enrolled and monitored for acute gastroenteritis. A subset of 115 diarrhea stool specimens from 76 children and 66 non-diarrhea stool specimens from 64 children was examined for HuCVs by RT-PCR by using a primer pair (p289/290) that detects both NLVs and SLVs. Twenty-two (19%) of the 115 diarrhea stool specimens and 5 (7%) of 66 non-diarrhea stool specimens produced RT-PCR products of expected size (319 bp for NLVs and 331 bp for SLVs). Twenty of the twenty-seven strains were cloned and sequenced. Pairwise sequence analysis showed that 9 (60%) and 6 (40%) of the 15 strains from the diarrhea stools were NLVs and SLVs, respectively. The same proportions of NLVs (60%) and SLVs (40%) were observed in the non-diarrhea stools. Strains in the NLV genus could be further divided into four clusters: Lordsdale, MxV, and HV and one potentially new cluster. Strains in the SLV genus could be divided into three clusters: Sapporo/82, Lon/92, and a potentially new cluster. Strains from the Lordsdale cluster were the most common among these children. The findings of both genera and multiple clusters of HuCVs co-circulating and the identification of new strains of HuCVs in the population justify the need for future studies of HuCVs in infants and children.
authors.affiliation: Center for Pediatric Research, Eastern Virginia Medical School and Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, Norfolk, Virginia, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Farkas
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Guerrero
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wilton
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Berke
authors.forename: D O
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Matson
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Pickering
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Palacios
mesh_terms: D002139:Caliciviridae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017250:Caliciviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D009663:Norwalk virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015995:Prevalence; D012367:RNA, Viral; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral