Peer-reviewed article
Human Sapovirus in the Post-Rotavirus Vaccine Era: From an Overlooked Gastroenteritis Pathogen to a Target for Precision Surveillance.
Wang C, Tong Y, Sun J, Chai W, Zhao J et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This is a scientific review of human sapovirus, a virus that causes diarrhoea in children. The review examines how the introduction of rotavirus vaccines has changed the pattern of childhood diarrhoea and brought sapovirus into focus as a more significant health problem. The document calls for improved surveillance systems, better diagnostic methods, and further research to understand how the virus spreads and causes illness.
Key points
- Rotavirus vaccination has reshaped the pathogen spectrum causing childhood diarrhoea, making sapovirus more noticeable
- Sapovirus causes outbreaks in childcare facilities and schools and can cause persistent infection in immunocompromised children
- Molecular diagnostics for sapovirus have improved, enabling better detection and study
- The research approach needs to shift from describing outbreaks to integrating disease burden data, host immunity studies, and surveillance systems
- Priority research should include standardized testing methods, study of how the virus enters cells, and understanding immune evasion mechanisms
Limitations
This is a review article that synthesises existing research rather than presenting new empirical data. It does not provide specific estimates of disease burden or comparative data on sapovirus prevalence by region or age group.
Abstract
Human sapovirus (HuSaV) has long occupied a peripheral position in etiological research on acute gastroenteritis. However, in the context of widespread rotavirus vaccination, the pathogen spectrum of childhood diarrhoea has been reshaped; molecular diagnostics have continued to evolve; and evidence from birth cohorts and environmental surveillance has accumulated. Together, these developments have prompted a systematic reassessment of the public health significance of HuSaV in childhood diarrhoea, outbreaks in childcare facilities and schools, asymptomatic infection, and persistent infection in immunocompromised hosts. Here, we review key advances in HuSaV research across disease burden and epidemiological patterns, genome organization and evolution, natural history and immune responses, experimental models and host interactions, complex clinical phenotypes, and surveillance-to-public-health translation. We further propose priority directions for the next 5 years, including the establishment of standardized antigen panels and reference strain repositories, integration of serological and genotyping data within longitudinal cohorts, elucidation of viral receptor recognition, cell entry and immune-evasion mechanisms, and the development of closed-loop linkages between experimental-model research and population-level surveillance systems. Overall, HuSaV has evolved from a historically underestimated pathogen associated with acute gastroenteritis in infants and young children into a key enteric viral pathogen that requires dedicated surveillance, mechanistic investigation and translational intervention strategies in the post-rotavirus vaccine era. The research paradigm is likewise shifting from descriptive epidemiology towards an integrated framework that combines disease burden, host immunity, experimental systems and transmission surveillance.