Incidence of enterovirus in patients with acute gastroenteritis.

Enteroviruses (EV) have been linked to lymphocytic meningitis and exanthems, but they may also be involved in acute gastroenteritis (AGE), a condition whose aetiological agent often remains unidentified. In this work 1214 samples from individuals with AGE were studied with the aim of establishing the incidence of EV. The samples were collected between September and December in three different years and subjected to real-time genomic amplification in order to determine the viral load (VL). Of the 1214 samples studied, infection by a single virus was found in 328 cases (27%) and coinfection in 69 (5.7%). While adenoviruses (AdV) were the most frequent (14.8% of total), EV were present in 126 (10.4%) of the individuals tested. Of the 126 EV-positive samples, this virus was found as a single infection and coinfection in 76 (6.3%) and 50 (4.1%) cases, respectively. VL for EV was 5.58±1.51 log copies/ml (range 3.73-9.69) in the former and 6.27±1.75 (range 3.73-10.5) (p=0.02) in the latter. EV were identified in 97 children under 5 (16.9%) and in 29 (4.5%) patients over 5. Patients less than 5 years showed a higher VL that those more than 5 years age [6.08±1.57 (range 3.82-9.69) vs. 5.07±1.53 (range 3.73-10.58); (p=0.002)]. There was a high incidence of EV in AGE patients, and they were more frequent in those under 5, where they were found to replicate more efficiently. These results therefore indicate that testing for EV should be included in the diagnosis of AGE.

A novel single nucleotide polymorphism assay for the detection of N501Y SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The N501Y mutation in SARS-CoV-2 variants found in several strains from the UK, South Africa and Brazil has been linked to increased transmission. In order to discriminate N501Y variants quickly, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) discrimination assay was designed and validated. It was then deployed prospectively in 757 nasopharyngeal swabs. Validation of the novel variant discrimination assay corroborated the results in all validation panel samples (n = 63) through sequencing. This novel variant discrimination assay was then deployed prospectively in 757 clinical nasopharyngeal swabs during the last week of January 2021. N501Y was found in 206 (27.4 %) of the samples: 94 (28.2 %) men and 112 (26.85 %) women (p = 0.73). The patients in whom it was identified had a mean age of 47.8 ± 25.8 (0-96) years, similar to that of patients without this variant: 51.7 ± 25.9 (0-104) years (p = 0.06). 501Y variant was confirmed in 34 samples by sequence method and 501 N wild type was confirmed in 67. This method is sensitive, specific, and simple to apply in any microbiology lab.