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Prevalence and molecular characterization of parechovirus A in children with acute gastroenteritis in Shenzhen, 2016–2018

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Abstract

Parechovirus A (PeV-A), which causes a wide variety of diseases, is prevalent among young children. However, little is currently known about PeV-A infections in children with acute gastroenteritis in mainland China. In this study, we investigated the molecular epidemiology of acute gastroenteritis in Shenzhen, southern China, with an emphasis on PeV-A infections. A total of 1220 stool specimens from 1220 outpatient children under 5 years old with acute gastroenteritis were collected from January 2016 to December 2018. Viral RNA was detected by a real-time RT-PCR and PCR method. The PeV-A isolates were genotyped by sequencing the VP3/VP1 region. Of 1220 specimens, 148 (12.1%) were positive for PeV-A. The predominant genotype was PeV-A 1B (68.9%), followed by PeV-A 4 (12.2%), PeV-A 14 (6.1%), PeV-A 1A (5.4%), PeV-A 6 (2.7%), PeV-A 3 (2.7%) and PeV-A 5 (2.0%). It was found that 68.2% of PeV-A infections occurred in the summer and rainy months (June to September) in southern China. The majority of PeV-A-positive patients (97.3%) were younger than 24 months old. PeV-A coinfection with norovirus, rotavirus, astrovirus and adenovirus was found in thirty specimens (30/148, 20.3%), five specimens (5/148, 3.4%), five specimens (5/148, 3.4%), and two specimens (2/148, 1.4%), respectively. Coinfections with more than one other enteric virus were not observed in any of the PeV-A-positive specimens. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the PeV-A isolates from Shenzhen were closely related to each other and to strains circulating in China, suggesting endemic circulation of PeV-A in China. The results of this study indicate that PeV-A is one of important pathogens of acute gastroenteritis in young children and that coinfection is a possible mode of PeV-A infection. PeV-A associated with acute gastroenteritis exhibited high genotypic diversity in Shenzhen, southern China.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Shenzhen Science and Technology Research Project (JCYJ20160428172437446). We are grateful to the pediatricians from the sentinel surveillance system for viral diarrhea in Shenzhen, China.

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  1. Ya-Nan Zhu and Yu-Hui Ye contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China

    Ya-Nan Zhu, Jing Wang & Gui-Fang Hu

  2. Preventive Care Center, PeKing University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, 518036, China

    Yu-Hui Ye & Yan-Jie Wu

  3. Information & Technology Division, Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Zhen Zhang

  4. Major Infectious Disease Control Key Laboratory and Shenzhen Public Service Platform of Pathogenic Microorganisms Repository, Institute of Pathogen Biology, Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Long Chen, Yi-Jun Tang, Jun Meng & Hai-Long Zhang

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  1. Ya-Nan Zhu
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Zhu, YN., Ye, YH., Zhang, Z. et al. Prevalence and molecular characterization of parechovirus A in children with acute gastroenteritis in Shenzhen, 2016–2018. Arch Virol 165, 1377–1384 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-020-04587-6

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