Prevalence and Genetic Characterization of Aichivirus in Environmental Waters in Thailand

Aichivirus 1 (AiV-1) is an enteric virus that has been documented to be the causative agent of diarrhea in humans. It is transmitted by fecal–oral route, through person-to-person contact, consumption of contaminated food or water, or recreation of contaminated water. AiV-1 is highly prevalent in water samples and has been proposed as a potential indicator of fecal contamination in water reservoirs. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and genetic diversity of AiV-1 in environmental water samples in Thailand. A total of 126 samples were collected monthly from November 2016 to July 2018 from various sources of environmental water including irrigation water, reservoir, river, and wastewater. The presence of AiV-1 was detected by RT-nested PCR of the 3CD region and further analyzed by phylogenetic analysis. The AiV-1 was detected in 28 out of 126 (22.2%) of tested samples. A high frequency of AiV-1 detection was in wastewater (52.4%). All 28 AiV-1 strains detected in this study belonged to the genotype B and were closely related to AiV strains detected previously in environmental waters and in humans worldwide. This study demonstrated, for the first time, the contamination of AiV-1 in various sources of water samples in Thailand and provided a better insight into the prevalence of AiV-1 in environmental waters and its potential risk of human health.