A novel recombinant porcine sapovirus infection in piglets with diarrhea in Shandong Province, China, 2022

Sapporo virus (SaV) is an emerging enteric virus causing acute gastroenteritis in animals. Here, we found a novel porcine SaV (PoSaV) strain (named SD2202) from the piglets with diarrhea in China in 2022. The highest nucleotide homology of SD2202 with other PoSaV strains is only 90.67%, and there are four amino acids insertion in the viral capsid protein and minor structural protein compared to other PoSaV; furthermore, we found that SD2202 belongs to a new GIII genogroup clade (GIII-6 clade). Interestingly, we found that SD2202 may be an intra-genogroup recombinant strain. Taken together, we found a novel PoSaV implicated in the piglet diarrhea epidemic and emphasized the importance of continuous surveillance of PoSaV.