Prevalence of sapovirus and astrovirus in pediatric infectious gastroenteritis surveillance in Kobe City, Japan, during 2016-2019.

Sapovirus (SaV) and astrovirus (AstV) are important viral agents causing acute gastroenteritis. In this study, to determine the percentage of SaV and AstV as causative viruses of infectious gastroenteritis, we examined 53 samples of unknown cause from pediatric clinics in Kobe, Japan, where sentinel surveillance for infectious gastroenteritis was conducted from 2016 to 2019. SaV and AstV were screened for their presence by real-time PCR. Positive samples were genotyped by sequencing and genetic analysis of the partial regions of capsid and RdRp. Ninteen SaV and 3 AstV were detected, and the detection rate per unknown case and total case were follows; SaV: 35.8%, 11.0%, AstV: 5.7%, 1.7%. The most frequently detected genotype of SaV was GI.1, followed by GII.3. AstV genotypes were MAstV1.1 and MAstV1.4. This study indicates that SaV and AstV are important causative viruses of pediatric infectious gastroenteritis.