Emergence of G9 as a predominant genotype of human rotaviruses in Cuba

Abstract

To study human rotaviruses in Cuban children up to 5 years old with acute diarrhea, a total of 64 faecal samples from two pediatric hospitals between 2006 and 2008 were analyzed. Thirty-nine samples (60.9%) were found positive for rotaviruses by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), while four (6.2%) exhibited discordant results (ELISA positives/PAGE negatives). All the positive samples were genotyped by a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The most prevalent G and P types were G1 (60.5%) and P[8] (90.6%), respectively. Among the rotaviruses detected, two long RNA patterns were identified by PAGE (L/A and L/B). The predominant genotype in 2006 and 2007 was G1/P[8] with detection rates 71.4% and 80%, respectively. In contrast, G9/P[8] was found at the highest rate (78.5%) in 2008. The phylogenetic analysis of VP7 genes of the ten representative strains indicated that Cuban G1/P[8] rotaviruses were close to those reported in the Americas, and G9/P[8] rotaviruses were located in the lineage of the emerging G9 strains spreading worldwide. This is the first molecular epidemiologic study of rotaviruses in Cuba, highlighting the current increase of the G9 rotavirus which has been recognized globally as an emerging genotype. The study reinforces the need for a systematic surveillance of the molecular epidemiology of rotaviruses.

Rotavirus Group A Genotypes Detected Through Diarrheal Disease Surveillance in Haiti, 2012

“…Studies based on the molecular characterization of RVA into G and P genotypes in the Caribbean are scarce. However, similar to our findings in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, 13,14 St. Vincent, 15 and Cuba 16 have all reported G1P [8] as the most common strain in circulation, followed by G9P [8]. The detection of genotype G12 for the first time in Haiti further confirms the emergence of this genotype globally.…”

Genotypic distribution of rotavirus strains causing severe gastroenteritis in children under 5 years old in Borazjan, Iran

“…Extensive molecular epidemiological studies globally have indicated that G1 is the most common circulating genotype. Similarly, the predominance of G1 genotype of rotavirus was observed in our study (52.27%), which is in concordance with the results of genotyping from different parts of the world including: Swiss (Lacroix et al, 2010), Taiwan (Mast et al, 2010), France and Cuba (Ribas et al, 2011). Although G2 and G3 are among the most prevalent rotavirus genotypes worldwide (Fang et al, 2005;Dey et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2009;Jere et al, 2011), Kargar et al 2939 nonetheless this strains were not detected in this study.…”

“…However, G4 was detected only in 2.27% of all children with rotavirus gastroenteritis. Recently, G9 has appeared as the common genotype in Albania (Annarita et al, 2010), Cuba (Ribas et al, 2011) and other countries (Van Damme et al, 2007;Nelson et al, 2008), but in this study only four (4.54%) G9 genotype isolate were identified. The emergence of G9 as an important genotype in developing and industrialized countries necessitates the inclusion of G9 in future rotavirus vaccines.…”

“…Rotavirus remains a major cause of acute gastroenteritis among infants and children aged <5 years old, not only in the developing countries like Brazil (Sa´fadi et al, 2010), India (Tatte et al, 2010), Cuba (Ribas et al, 2011), but also in developed countries like Italy (Annarita et al, 2010), Swiss (Lacroix et al, 2010) and France (De Rougemont et al, 2011). In recent studies, it was calculated that the rotaviruses cause approximately 111 million episodes of the gastroenteritis requiring only home care, 25 million clinical visits, 2 million hospitalizations and 352,000-592,000 deaths in children aged <5 years old worldwide, each year (Parashar et al, 2003).…”

Care-seeking behaviour and diagnostic processes for symptomatic giardiasis in children attending an academic paediatric hospital

“…The role of this technique in the diagnosis of giardiasis is subject of controversy; some studies favour this technique; 26,27 however, in others, the results are poor. 28 Although we have not got any evidence which supports the following hypothesis, one of the reasons why only small percentage of practitioners ordered faecal smear examination to a high proportion of cases reporting diarrhoea and vomiting at first consultation could have been that, according to their awareness, illness should have been caused by a viral gastroenteropathic pathogen [29][30][31][32] and treated children accordingly, and also their failure to consider giardiasis, especially under the acute diarrhoeal disease context. As viral infections are most frequent, testing for protozoa is not routinely performed for patients with acute gastroenteritis, because it adds cost without substantially altering treatment.…”