title: Identification of a novel astrovirus (astrovirus VA1) associated with an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis.
abstract: The etiology of a large proportion of gastrointestinal illness is unknown. In this study, random Sanger sequencing and pyrosequencing approaches were used to analyze fecal specimens from a gastroenteritis outbreak of unknown etiology in a child care center. Multiple sequences with limited identity to known astroviruses were identified. Assembly of the sequences and subsequent reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) and rapid amplification of cDNA ends generated a complete genome of 6,586 nucleotides. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that this virus, named astrovirus VA1 (AstV-VA1), is highly divergent from all previously described astroviruses. Based on RT-PCR, specimens from multiple patients in this outbreak were unequivocally positive for Ast-VA1.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Stacy R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Finkbeiner
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ruone
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Conrardy
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gregoricus
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Toney
authors.forename: Herbert W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Virgin
authors.forename: Larry J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vinjé
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Suxiang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D019350:Astroviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D001257:Mamastrovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods; D013045:Species Specificity
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