Prevalence of sapovirus infection among infant and adult patients with acute gastroenteritis in Tehran, Iran

AIM: This study investigated the prevalence of sapovirus infections in patient with acute gastroenteritis in Tehran, Iran. BACKGROUND: Sapovirus, a member of the family Caliciviridae is one of the major causative agents of viral gastroenteritis affecting both children and adult individuals. There isn't enough data about prevalence and genotypes of sapovirus infection in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 42 fecal samples were collected from patients with acute gastroenteritis from May to July 2009. RT nested- PCR was performed for screening. To genotype the sapovirus isolates, some positive samples were subjected to phylogenetic analysis by sequencing of fragments of viral capsid gene region. RESULTS: Sapovirus was detected in 5 of 42 stool specimens from patients with acute gastroenteritis. Sapovirus detected in this study was clustered into only one distinct genogroup I/2. Sapovirus GI/2 was predominant. CONCLUSION: Our results show that among the studied viruses responsible for this disease, sapovirus was a major viral isolate virus.