Astrovirus; Clinical microbiology; Virology; Clincial virology; Virus discovery; Diagnostic; Emerging virus
Pérez-Rodriguez Francisco J., Vieille Gael, Turin Lara, Yildiz Soner, Tapparel Caroline, Kaiser Laurent (2019), Fecal Components Modulate Human Astrovirus Infectivity in Cells and Reconstituted Intestinal Tissues, in
mSphere, 4(6), 1-13.
Williams Simon H., Cordey Samuel, Bhuva Nishit, Laubscher Florian, Hartley Mary-Anne, Boillat-Blanco Noémie, Mbarack Zainab, Samaka Josephine, Mlaganile Tarsis, Jain Komal, d’Acremont Valerie, Kaiser Laurent, Lipkin W. Ian (2018), Investigation of the Plasma Virome from Cases of Unexplained Febrile Illness in Tanzania from 2013 to 2014: a Comparative Analysis between Unbiased and VirCapSeq-VERT High-Throughput Sequencing Approaches, in
mSphere, 3(4), 1-6.
Cordey S, Zanella M C, Wagner N, Turin L, Kaiser L (2018), Novel human astroviruses in pediatric respiratory samples: A one-year survey in a Swiss tertiary-care hospital., in
Journal of medical virology, 1-4.
Cordey Samuel, Hartley Mary-Anne, Keitel Kristina, Laubscher Florian, Brito Francisco, Junier Thomas, Kagoro Frank, Samaka Josephine, Masimba John, Said Zamzam, Temba Hosiana, Mlaganile Tarsis, Docquier Mylène, Fellay Jacques, Kaiser Laurent, D’Acremont Valérie (2018), Detection of novel astroviruses MLB1 and MLB2 in the sera of febrile Tanzanian children, in
Emerging Microbes & Infections, (1), 27-27.
Cordey Samuel, Vieille Gael, Turin Lara, Kaiser Laurent (2017), Usutu virus in cerebrospinal fluid: A two-year survey in a tertiary care hospital, Geneva, Switzerland., in
Journal of medical virology, 609-611.
Cordey Samuel, Vu Diem-Lan, Zanella Marie-Celine, Turin Lara, Mamin Aline, Kaiser Laurent (2017), Novel and classical human astroviruses in stool and cerebrospinal fluid: comprehensive screening in a tertiary care hospital, Switzerland., in
Emerging microbes & infections, (9), 84-84.
Thanks to our ongoing SNF-funded virus discovery project, we have recently identified an astrovirus MLB2 as a cause of meningitis and disseminated infection. Up to now, this virus and the other non-classical astroviruses were not recognized as a distinct cause of human diseases. Our main general objective is therefore to expand our findings and establish the relationship between the novel human astroviruses and specific diseases like meningitis. To reach our objective, we will address thoughtfully several questions at the clinical and the microbiological level as follows:Part A. Microbiological investigations1. To establish a panel of validated and quantitative real-time RT-PCR assays covering all human astroviruses.2. To establish in vitro models for isolation of non-classical human astroviruses and establish a viral stock that will be used for further virological investigations.3. To use NGS analysis for predefined cases (positive and negative) to complete the viral phylogeny and and analyze their full-length genome sequence diversity.Part B. Clinical investigations1. To assess the prevalence and epidemiology of human astrovirus infection in a hospital-based setting by a systematic screening of all of these viruses in unselected stools sent to our laboratory. 2. To establish the incidence of human astrovirus infection in case of acute meningo-encephalitis over a 2-years time period; this will be done thanks to a prospective cohort enrolling all adults and children hospitalized with an acute meningo-encephalitis in our hospital.3. To establish whether astroviruses are a frequent cause of disseminated diseases and their potential clinical impact in highly immuncompromised patients. This will be done thanks to the two specific following cohorts:oAdult allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipientsoPediatric solid organ (mainly liver) transplant recipients