Abstract
Rotavirus gastroenteritis is the major cause of severe dehydrating diarrhea in children worldwide. This study compares rotavirus diarrhea in 351 children in a community-based cohort and 343 children admitted to a hospital during the same period. Clinical information and fecal specimens were obtained during diarrheal episodes. Fecal samples were screened for VP6 antigen, and the positive samples were G and P typed by reverse transcription-PCR. Rotavirus was detected in 82/1,152 (7.1%) episodes of diarrhea in the community and 94/343 (27.4%) cases in the hospital. The median age of affected children (7.5 versus 10.5 months) and the mean severity of symptoms (Vesikari score, 7.6+/-3.4 versus 11+/-2.5) were lower in the community. A larger proportion of children in the community were breast-fed than were children admitted to the hospital (73% versus 34.8%). In the community, the genotypes identified in symptomatic patients, in order of frequency, were G1 (36.5%), G10 (17.1%), G2 (15.9%), and G9 (7.3%) and mixed infections (7.3%). The most common G-P combinations were G1P[8], G2P[4], G1P[4], and G10P[11]. The distribution of G types from hospitalized children was G1 (46.8%), G9 (19.1%), G2 (8.5%), G10 (1.1%), and 4.3% mixed infections. The most common G-P combinations were G1P[8] and G9P[8]. This study documents significant genetic heterogeneity of rotaviruses in the community and the hospital. G10P[11] strains resembling a vaccine candidate strain caused disease in the community, indicating the need for careful epidemiological studies as well as safety studies for the vaccine candidates.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2468-74 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Clinical Microbiology |
Volume | 44 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2006 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Age Factors
- Antigens, Viral/analysis
- Breast Feeding
- Capsid Proteins/analysis
- Child, Preschool
- Community-Acquired Infections/epidemiology
- Diarrhea/epidemiology
- Feces/virology
- Female
- Genotype
- Hospitalization
- Humans
- India/epidemiology
- Infant
- Infant, Newborn
- Male
- RNA, Viral/genetics
- Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
- Rotavirus/classification
- Rotavirus Infections/epidemiology
- Viral Proteins/genetics