Report of two coinfections of human adenovirus and sapovirus in patients with acute gastroenteritis from China.

Abstract

Background: Coinfections involving multiple diarrheal viruses have gained increasing recognition as a significant cause of acute gastroenteritis in recent years. Understanding the genetic diversity and evolutionary relationships of these viruses is crucial for effective outbreak identification and tracking.

Objective: To report two cases of HAdV and SaV coinfections and elucidate the genetic diversity and evolutionary patterns of these viruses through whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and phylogenetic analysis.

Methods: A total of 873 diarrheal stool samples were collected from sentinel hospitals in Shenzhen, China, in 2021. The collected stool samples were identified using RT-PCR and positive samples were subjected to WGS on the NovaSeq platform. phylogenetic trees were constructed using MEGA to analyze genetic relationships.

Results: The sequencing results showed that both samples were human adenovirus type 41, which clustered in two distinct evolutionary clades. Additionally, we also retrieved the complete genome of sapovirus (GI.1 genotype) from the same sample. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that they were similar to previously reported strains, belonging to the clade predominating in China.

Conclusions: This study reveals the genetic diversity of epidemic strains involved in coinfections of human adenovirus and sapovirus. The findings establish a groundwork for the identification and traces of acute gastroenteritis outbreaks.