Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Cost-effective Method for Microbial Source Tracking Using Specific Human and Animal Viruses
Published on: December 3, 2011
First Detection and Characterization of Smacovirus in the Human Vagina in Two Sequential Samples over a Twelve-Day
Antonio Charlys da Costa1, Tania Regina Tozetto-Mendoza1, Endrya do Socorro Foro Ramos2
1Laboratorio de Virologia (LIM52), Departamento de Infectologia e Medicina Tropical, Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Dr Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, 470, São Paulo 05403-000, Brazil.
Background:
Smacovirus is a CRESS-DNA virus identified almost exclusively in transient fecal samples from various vertebrate species.
Objective:
We evaluated human vaginal samples for the presence and maintenance of Smacovirus.
Methods:
Viral metagenomics analysis was performed on vaginal samples collected from 28 apparently healthy women in New York City, USA. Twenty-one of the women provided duplicate samples over a 12-21-day interval.
Results:
Phylogenetic analysis identified two samples from the same individual, collected over a twelve-day interval, that were positive for the complete Smacovirus genome. All detected sequence contigs belonged to a single variant of CRESS-DNA.
Conclusions:
The continuous presence of Smacovirus in the human vagina over a twelve-day period was identified.
Related Concept Videos
Microbiota of the Urogenital Tract
Human Virome

