Rotavirus Prevalence in Children with Acute Gastroenteritis and the Distribution of Serotypes and Electropherotypes

Rotavirus is the major cause of gastroenteritis in children worldwide as well as in Turkey. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of rotavirus infection in children with acute gastroenteritis and to investigate the prevalent rotavirus serotypes and electropherotypes. Stool specimens collected from 251 (108 female, 143 male) children age between 0-5 years old who were admitted to Gazi University Hospital between April 2009 and February 2010 were included to the study. The presence of rotavirus antigen in the stool samples were searched by ELISA (Rotaclone, Meridian Diagnostics, Inc. USA) and double-stranded RNAs were extracted from the positive samples using phenol-chloroform-isoamyl alcohol method. RNA samples were subjected to polyacrilamide gel electrophoresis for electropherotyping. G and P genotypes were determined by RT-PCR and subsequently by nested PCR, using Access-Quick RT-PCR and PCR Mastermix (Promega Corporation, Madison, WI). Fifty-three (21.1%) of the stool samples were found positive by ELISA. G and P types were detected in 31(58.5%) and 24 (45.3%) samples, respectively. Genotypes G1 (16.1%), G2 (12.9%), G3 (38.7%), G4 (25.8%) and G9 (6.5%) constituted G types and P[8] (87.5%), P[6] (8.3%) and P[9] (4.2%) types constituted P types. G/P combination was detected in 18 samples in the following order, G3P[8], G2P[8], G4P[8], G1P[8], G9P[8], G4P[6] and G1P[6] in 7 (38.9%), 3 (16.6%), 3 (16.6%), 2 (11.1%), 1 (5.6%), 1 (5.6%) and 1 (5.6%) of the samples, respectively. In 23 (43.4%) of the samples four different electropherotypes, namely El (n= 10), E2 (n= 10), E3 (n= 1) and E5 (n= 2) were identified. In conclusion, it was observed that G1-4 and G9 types are still prevalent in our region, however there is a transition from the predominance of Cl to G3 and G4, and also a decrease in the prevalence of G9 genotype. For the first time the presence of P[9] type in our country was detected in this study. Instead of previously circulated G1P[8] type, G3P[8] was detected as the predominant combination. Although all E types were reported in the previous studies from our country, only four E types were detected in the present study. This study has emphasized that previously reported rates of rotavirus genotypes and electroferotypes showed a diversion as a result of globalization.