Prevalence of human cosaviruses in Tunisia, North Africa.
A new picornavirus, named human Cosavirus (HCoSV) was isolated recently from stools of children with acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) and healthy children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Since then, it was also isolated from patients from other countries. Five species are presently identified forming a new genus in the Picornaviridae family. This study reports the detection of HCoSV in stool specimens collected as part of the National Poliovirus surveillance Program in Tunisia, between 2011 and 2012, from patients with AFP and healthy individuals among their contacts. One hundred and ninety four stool samples were investigated by RT-PCR in the 5' non-coding region of the genome. A total of 64 specimens (33%) tested positive for HCoSV. HCoSV positive specimens were found in 36 cases with neurological syndromes and 28 of their healthy contacts. The highest rate of HCoSV infection (62.5%) occurred in children younger than 6 years of age. The sampling date of stool specimens suggested that HCoSV infection occurred regularly over time. Also, the sampling origin of stool specimen showed that HCoSV infection was detected in almost all the governorates of Tunisia from the North to the South of the country. This study is the first report of HCoSV prevalence in the North African region. It contributes to a better knowledge on the geographic distribution and the epidemiology of these viruses.
['Rezig|Dorra|D|', 'Ben Farhat|Essia|E|', 'Touzi|Henda|H|', 'Meddeb|Zina|Z|', 'Ben Salah|Afif|A|', 'Triki|Henda|H|']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D000352:Africa, Northern D002648:Child D002675:Child, Preschool D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring D005243:Feces D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007223:Infant D008297:Male D010802:Phylogeny D010849:Picornaviridae D010850:Picornaviridae Infections D015995:Prevalence D012367:RNA, Viral D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA D013997:Time Factors D014416:Tunisia D055815:Young Adult
prevalence cosavirus acute flaccid paralysis picornaviridae