Prevalence and Clinical Profile of Human <b><i>Salivirus</i></b> in Children with Acute Gastroenteritis in Northern Italy, 2014–2015

Abstract

<b><i>Objective:</i></b> Human <i>Salivirus</i> (SalV) has been associated with gastroenteritis on all continents. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> This paper presents the real-time RT-PCR assay for the detection of SalV in clinical fecal samples collected from 192 hospitalized children with acute gastroenteritis in Piedmont, Italy. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The most commonly detected virus was <i>Norovirus</i> genogroup II (GII) (33.8%), followed by <i>Rotavirus</i> (21.3%), <i>Sapovirus</i> (10.9%), <i>Parechovirus</i> (8%), <i>Norovirus</i> GI (6.7%), and <i>Adenovirus</i> (1%). PCR detected SalV in 1 (0.5%) subject. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Our data show that the detection rate of SalV in diarrheal children (0.5%) is lower than that observed in other countries, where it is reported in diarrheal children in 8.6–1.2% of patients.