title: Circulation of 3 lineages of a novel Saffold cardiovirus in humans.
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.
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jan Felix
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Drexler
authors.forename: Luciano Kleber de Souza
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Luna
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stöcker
authors.forename: Patrícia Silva
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.forename: Tereza Cristina Medrado
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.forename: Célia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pedroso
authors.forename: Hans Iko
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Huppertz
authors.forename: Hugo da Costa
authors.initials: Hda C
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.forename: Sigrid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baumgarte
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Drosten