Electropherotypes and Subgroups of Group A Rotaviruses Circulating among Diarrhoeic Children in Kano; Nigeria

Background: It is estimated that about 600?000 children die annually as a result of severe dehydrating diarrhea caused by rotaviruses. The virus is a double stranded RNA (dsRNA) virus with 11 segments. Group A rotaviruses show a characteristic 4-2-3-2 pattern following electrophoresis. The VP6 subgroups; I and II exist. This work was carried out to study the prevalence of rotavirus infection among children 0-5 years with diarrhea in Kano; and to determine the circulating subgroups and electropherotypes and of the rotavirus isolates. Methods: Two hundred and eighteen stool specimens from children 0-60 months (198 diarrheic and 20 non-diarrheic) were collected from different hospitals and health care centers in Kano and subjected to group A rotavirus enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine presence of group A rotavirus; subgroup ELISA to determine the VP6 subgroups and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) to determine the electropherotypes present. Results: The long electropherotypes (47.05) of four variations dominated over the short electropherotype (17.64). About 11.76of the isolates were of mixed infection. Dominance of subgroup II (45) over subgroup I (25); and the presence of both subgroups I and II (10) and neither subgroup I nor II (15) was observed in this study. Conclusion: Information on the genomic diversity of the RNA electropherotypes in this region; Kano; is reported in this study

Rotavirus infection in four states in north-western Nigeria

Background: Rotaviruses are associated with 611;000 deaths worldwide and with 33;000 deaths in Nigeria in children 5 years of age annually. However; limited data exit on rotavirus (RV) infection in North-western Nigeria. This study surveyed RV infection in four states in Northwestern Nigeria. Methods: During July 2002 to July 2004; 1063 (869 diarrhoeic and 194 control) stool samples were collected from children 0.05). The highest RV burden was detected in children aged below six months. The infection occurred throughout the study period. The most common clinical features associated with RV were fever (71);vomiting (64.1) and a combination of fever and vomiting (48.2). Vomiting was strongly associated with RV (p 0.01). There was a statistically significant association between food type and rotavirus infection (p 0.05); with the highest prevalence occurring amongst children exclusively breast-fed. The majority of the RV positive samples revealed long electropherotypes and VP6 subgroup I + II specificity. Conclusion: Rotavirus was shown to be an important cause of diarrhoea in children 0-5 years of age in Northwestern Nigeria. An effective vaccine would therefore need to be administered at birth for children in the study area since there is no effective way to completely eliminate rotavirus infection other than vaccination. There is also a need for additional studies in Nigeria to provide data required to hasten vaccine introduction