Incidence, seasonality and serotypes of rotavirus in Gipuzkoa (Basque Country), Spain. A 14-year study

Abstract

Over a 14-year period (1984–97) the presence of rotavirus in stool samples from children under 15 years with acute gastroenteritis was studied by enzymoimmunoanalysis. Serotyping (G1–G4) was performed using monoclonal antibodies. A total of 17348 children under 15 were investigated. Rotavirus was detected in 3637 (21·0%) specimens, 74·6% of which were from children younger than 2 years old. G1 and G4 were the most frequent serotypes. In 1991–7, the minimum incidence of rotavirus gastroenteritis in children under 4 years of age was 21·7 cases/1000 children/year. By the age of 5 years, at least 1 out of 11·3 children and probably 1 out of every 5–6 children in this area had experienced an episode of rotavirus gastroenteritis that required medical care. In the 1984–90 period a clear seasonality was not observed but in the second period of the study (1991–7), seasonality was marked, with peak activity in winter.

Time series investigation of changes in seasonality of acute diarrhea hospitalizations before and after rotavirus vaccine in Southern Brazil

“…Our study corroborates the presence of seasonality in tropics, its spatial change even in different regions inside the state (Paraná State) as well as temporal changes in the same locality 15 . We could see that before the introduction of the vaccine in 2006, the East region (Figure 1) presented the most different seasonal behavior in relationship to the others of the state.…”

“…Although seasonality started to be recognized even in the tropics, seasonal peaks are found to occur year-round in different countries 11,12,13,14 and to vary over time in the same country 15 .…”

Rotavirus genotypes in children in the Basque Country (northern Spain) over a 13-year period (July 1996–June 2009)

“…The data from this study, together with those from a previous study [11], provide information on 20 years of monitoring of rotavirus G-types (July 1989-June 2009, 2802 strains studied) (Fig. 2).…”

“…To better illustrate circulation of rotavirus genotypes in the Basque Country, Fig. 2 shows data on the G-type (G1-G4) obtained through serotyping in this region between 1989 and 1995 [11]. Rotavirus G9[P8] (13.4%) was detected sporadically from rotaviruses circulated widely in the first triennium of the study (27.8%, 65/234) and were predominant in the 1997-1998 epidemic, but represented only 0.9% (10/1134) of the strains genotyped after July 1999.…”

G2P[4] the most prevalent rotavirus genotype in 2007 winter season in an European non-vaccinated population

“…The predominance of G2 genotype differs from other recent studies in Europe, in which G1 was the most prevalent. [10][11][12][13][14][15] However, G2 has been the prevalent RV type in the past in some countries in Europe. 4 Recently, a high prevalence of G2P [4] was reported from Brazil and linked with the universal RV vaccination programme using a G1P [8] live oral RV vaccine.…”