Molecular epidemiology of human rotaviruses in Melbourne, Australia, from 1973 to 1979, as determined by electrophoresis of genome ribonucleic acid

Abstract

Rotaviruses contain a double-stranded ribonucleic acid genome consisting of 11 segments. Gel electrophoresis separates genome segments and allows identification of strain differences. This electrophoretic typing technique was applied to rotavirus specimens from 116 children and 72 newborn babies. Between 1973 and 1979, 17 different electropherotypes of rotavirus were observed in children with acute gastroenteritis. These electropherotypes showed a sequential pattern of appearance, with a limited number of electropherotypes present at any given time. By contrast, only two electropherotypes were identified from isolates from newborn babies in seven hospitals during 1975 to 1979. These two electropherotypes were very similar and were never identified in children with acute gastroenteritis. One of the neonatal electropherotypes was found in the nurseries of five different hospitals and persisted in one hospital for 4 years. Electrophoretic typing techniques can be applied routinely and reproducibly to small samples of feces and could prove to be of value in epidemiological studies of rotavirus infection.

Sequential variation in genomic RNA patterns of human rotaviruses isolated from infantile gastroenteritis

“…Our results have further demonstrated the extensive genomic heterogeneity of rotaviruses and the occurrence of different RNA patterns within an outbreak, as published by others [3,10,12]. However, some remarkable findings of our survey should be noted: no «short» electrophoresis patterns were detected, in contrast to many other reports.…”

“…The observation of a predominant electrophoretype in a.given rotavirus season is in agreement with results of other studies-reported from many parts of the world [4,11,12].…”

“…[6], has proven to be a very useful method for the identification and distinction of rotavirus isolates. Human rotaviruses show a large diversity in their segmented genomic patterns, and electrophoretic analysis has been established as a valuable means of studying the epidemiology of rotavirus infections [10,12,15,17].…”

Enteric viruses in hospital-acquired infection

“…Rotavirus may become endemic in such units and under these circumstances infected babies often remain asymptomatic (Chrystie, Totterdell and Banatvala, 1978). Evidence for this situation was provided by a study of the RNA profiles of rotaviruses affecting neonates in a unit in JJelbourne (Rodger et al, 1981). In this study, certain strains of virus persisted in the unit for a period of up to four years and differed from strains circulating in the community during this time.…”

Rapid and accurate viral diagnosis

“…Oligonucleotide mapping has also been used to study the evolution of influenza A virus strains in nature (Nakajima et al, 1978;Nakajima et al, 1980;Young and Palese, 1979). Electropherotyping of human rotavirus strains has been used to identify strains involved in disease outbreaks within hospital settings and in different parts of the world (Albert et al, 1982;Chiba et al, 1984;Rodger, et al, 1981;Rodriguez et al, 1983;Spencer et al, 1983). This technique has been useful in confirming the difference in rotavirus strains isolated in China from previously recognized rotavirus strains (Hung et al, 1984).…”