Rotaviruses, the major causative agents of infantile diarrhea worldwide, are, in general, highly species specific. Interspecies virus transmission is thought to be one of the important contributors involved in the evolution and diversity of rotaviruses in nature. Human rotavirus (HRV) G3P[3] strains Ro1845 and HCR3A have been reported to be closely related genetically to certain canine and feline rotaviruses (RVs). Whole genome sequence and phylogenetic analyses of each of these 2 HRVs as well as 3 canine RVs (CU-1, K9 and A79-10, each with G3P[3] specificity) and 2 feline RVs (Cat97 with G3P[3] specificity and Cat2 with G3P[9] specificity) revealed that (i) each of 11 genes of the Ro1845 and HCR3A was of canine/feline origin; (ii) canine and feline rotaviruses with G3P[3] specificity bore highly conserved species-specific genomes; and (iii) the Cat2 strain may have evolved via multiple reassortment events involving canine, feline, human and bovine rotaviruses.

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Introduction The epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) rapidly spread worldwide, and the various infection control measures have a significant influence on the spread of many infectious diseases. However, there have been no multicenter studies on how the number of hospitalized children with various infectious diseases changed before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 in Japan. Methods We conducted a multicenter, prospective survey for hospitalized pediatric patients in 18 hospitals in Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan, from July 2019 to February 2021. We defined July 2019 to February 2020 as pre-COVID-19, and July 2020 to February 2021 as post-COVID-19. We surveyed various infectious diseases by sex and age. Results In total, 5,300 patients were hospitalized during the study period. The number of patients decreased from 4,266 in the pre-COVID-19 period to 701 (16.4%) post-COVID-19. Patients with influenza and RSV decreased from 308 and 795 pre-COVID-19 to zero and three (0.4%) post-COVID-19. However, patients with adenovirus (respiratory infection) only decreased to 60.9% (46 to 28) of pre-COVID levels. Patients with rotavirus, norovirus, and adenovirus gastroenteritis decreased markedly post-COVID-19 to 2.6% (38 to 1), 27.8% (97 to 27) and 13.5% (37 to 5). The number of patients with UTIs was similar across the two periods (109 and 90). KD patients decreased to 31.7% (161 to 51) post-COVID-19. Conclusions We suggest that current infection control measures for COVID-19 such as wearing masks, washing hands, and disinfecting hands with alcohol are effective against various infectious diseases. However, these effects vary by disease.