Detection of rotavirus G and P genotypes among children with acute gastroenteritis

ABSTRACT

Rotavirus gastroenteritis is a leading cause of diarrheal disease mortality among children under five years, mostly in developing world. This study aimed to detect rotavirus among 40 hospitalized infants and children with acute gastroenteritis whose ages ranged from 2-24 months, 22 males and 18 females. Also, a control group of 15 healthy infants and children with a matched age and sex were included in the study. Three different commercial tests for detection of group A rotavirus [Latex agglutination [LA], enzyme linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] and reverse-transcriptase PCR [RT-PCR]] were used to evaluate fecal specimens obtained from the patients and control group. LA test detected the virus in 24 cases [60%], while the result was 19 cases [47.5%] with ELISA and only 17 cases [42.5%] with RT-PCR. Genotyping showed presence of VP4 gene [P genotype] in 8 cases, VP7 [G genotype] in 6 cases, and a mixed VP4 and VP7 [P and G genotypes] in 3 cases of PCR positive diarrheal samples. The severe clinical manifestations were associated with VP7 genotype. Infection was more in artificial fed infants than breast fed with a significant difference [P <0.05]. Also, infection was more frequent in winter season. Considering PCR as a gold standard, our study reported that ELISA and LA test had a sensitivity of 94.1% and 82.4% respectively and a specificity of 92.1% and 73.7% respectively. In conclusion, ELISA is rapid, sensitive and specific test for detection of rotavirus in stool samples, while RT-PCR is an important method for viral genotyping