Objective: To verify the presence of Sapporo-like virus (SLV) in children with diarrhea in Guangzhou.
Methods: Stool specimens were collected from children with diarrhea treated in the Department of Pediatrics of Nanfang Hospital in autumn and winter, 2003, and semi-nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was employed for SLV detection, the positive product of which was sequenced and analyzed in comparison with the SLV sequences documented in GenBank.
Results: Only one positive specimen (CH03354) was found out of the 169 stool specimens collected. Sequence analysis of the capsid gene of this strain showed that it belonged to SLV GI-1 cluster.
Conclusion: SLV exists in Guangzhou and different regions of China may have different genotypes of this virus.