Rotavirus Infection: A Perspective on Epidemiology, Genomic Diversity and Vaccine Strategies

Epidemiology of Rotavirus Infection in Certain Countries

“…The global distribution of rotavirus serotypes has been consistent of G1 strains comprised the most frequently detected serotype and G1 to G4 strains accounted for 97.5% of all rotavirus infections in Asia, North America, and Europe; 83.5% to 90.4% in South America, Africa, and Australia; whereas G9 strains in Australia, Ghana, India, and Brazil and G8 strains in Africa have appeared as important strains (1,3,7,17,18) .…”

“…Human rotaviruses are classified into seven serogroups (A-G). Electrophoretic pattern of the genome of the group A viruses is composed of four highmolecular-weight (1 to 4), two middle-sized segments (5 and 6), a distinctive triplet of segments (7 to 9), and two smaller segments (10 and 11) (1,29). Because various RNA patterns can arise by different mechanisms (shift, drift, rearrangements) analysis of genomic electropherotypes is a relatively easy, rapid for virus detection in order to molecular epidemiology studies (20,30).…”

“…In developing countries Rotaviruses has been documented as the leading cause of life-threatening diarrhea, that is estimated to be more than a 100 million episodes of diarrhea and 600,000 deaths (17). Hospital-based studies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America show that 25% to 55% of hospitalizations for diarrheal illnesses in children less than 5 years of age are linked to rotavirus infection, with more than 80% of all rotavirus deaths occurring in low income countries of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (1,5,34,35). For example, recent estimates indicate that Asian countries have more than 230,000 deaths, African countries approximately 183,000 deaths, and Latin American countries approximately 15,000 deaths.…”

“…Individual countries with the highest number of deaths include India (>100,000), China (>30,000), and Pakistan (>25000) (5,(35)(36)(37). By adding the total prevalence of rotaviral infection in developing and industrialized countries, it was assessed that each year rotavirus causes approximately 111 million episodes of gastroenteritis that require home care only, 25 million clinic visits, and 2 million hospitalizations in children <5 years of age worldwide (1,2,11,15). Based on these age-specific incidence data with the population of children in each age group during the first 5 years of life globally in both developed and developing countries, virtually every child will experience an episode of rotavirus diarrhea, but the consequences of the rotavirus infection are quite different (Table 1) (15, 16, 38).…”

“…otavirus is the most common cause of severe gastroenteritis and vomiting in children between six and twenty four months old, and there have been a few cases of rotavirus gastroenteritis in adults (1,2). In 1985, information about diarrheal disease was not available for developed countries, so the Institute of Medicine, concluded that a rotavirus vaccine was not a priority for some countries such as United States.…”