Detection and genetic characterization of cosavirus in a pediatric patient with diarrhea

Human cosavirus (HCoSV) is a newly discovered virus of the family Picornaviridae. A total of 411 fecal specimens were collected from children admitted to hospitals with acute gastroenteritis symptoms in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2010-2011 and screened for HCoSV by an RT-nested PCR method. HCoSV was found in a single specimen (CMH-N199-11) collected from a 3-year-old boy. This represents the first report of HCoSV infection in a pediatric patient with diarrhea in Thailand. Analysis of the complete coding sequence revealed that this HCoSV was most similar to the Chinese HCoSV-A reference strain SH1, and belonged to genotype A6. The data imply that HCoSVs detected in Thailand and China share the same evolutionary ancestor. Our results emphasize the need for further research to understand the distribution, genetic diversity, and association of the HCoSV with acute gastroenteritis in humans.