Abstract
BACKGROUND: Human enteric viruses are common pathogens that can cause acute gastroenteritis (AGE). The largest proportion of morbidity and mortality occurs in developing countries. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of enteric viruses causing AGE and genotype rotavirus A and norovirus positive specimens collected between September 2020 and December 2021 in Senegal. METHODS: Overall, 417 patients of all ages with AGE were enrolled in this study. Specimens were screened for enteric viruses using the Allplex™ GI-Virus Assay or singleplex RT-qPCR. Samples positive for rotavirus A or norovirus were genotyped using an amplicon-based method with nanopore sequencing. Data were analysed using the R statistical software. RESULTS: Of the 417 patients screened, 37,6% tested positive for at least one enteric virus and 30 (7.2%) patients had mixed infections. Norovirus (n = 58; 13.9%) was most frequently detected, followed by enterovirus (n = 49; 11.8%), rotavirus A (n = 23; 5.5%), adenovirus (n = 22; 5.3%), sapovirus (n = 18;4,3%), astrovirus (n = 15;3.6%) and Aichivirus (n = 3; 0.7%). However, the prevalence of rotavirus A was higher in the border regions (15.9% in Matam and 14.3% in Kédougou), highlighting the need to strengthen surveillance and research programs on rotavirus A in Senegal to better support the national vaccine program. The most common rotavirus A genotype was G12[P8] (47.8%) belonging to the lineage III and grouping with strains from other African countries. GII.4 Sydney 2012 [P31] (47.6%) was the predominant norovirus genotype in our study, followed by GII.16[PNA7] (28.6%), GII.6[P7] (14.3%), GII.2[P16] (4.8%) and GII.13[P16] (4.8%). Vomiting was significantly associated with rotavirus A infection while norovirus and enterovirus were the most common viral pathogens detected in patients with AGE. CONCLUSION: Our findings provide new insights into the epidemiology of enteric viruses in Senegal. However, integrating these data with information on bacterial etiologies would allow for a more comprehensive assessment of the burden of AGE in Senegal.