title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Enteric Virus Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guix
authors.forename: Santiago
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Caballero
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Villena
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bartolomé
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Latorre
authors.forename: Nuria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rabella
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simó
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bosch
authors.forename: Rosa M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Pintó
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019350:Astroviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D001257:Mamastrovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology