Incidence and genetic diversity of group C rotavirus among adults.
Fecal samples from a 1-year prospective study were investigated to establish the role of group C rotavirus infections in acute diarrhea in Swedish adults (>15 years old). Rotaviruses were found in samples from 3% of the patients, and, in 35% of these, group C rotavirus was detected. Clinical symptoms of group C rotavirus infection were generally milder than those of group A rotavirus infection. Gene 8 (vp7) from 12 group C isolates, including strains from the prospective study, a military outbreak, and a sporadic case, was sequenced. The gene was found to be extremely conserved, with identities of 99.1%-100% at the amino acid level. This study has systematically investigated the prevalence and genetic diversity of group C rotavirus in adults. The data confirm the extreme sequence conservation within human group C rotavirus strains and suggest that symptomatic group C rotavirus infections occur more frequently in adults than has been previously recognized.
Nilsson
M
M
Department of Virology, Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Karolinska Institute, Solna, Sweden.
Svenungsson
B
B
Hedlund
K O
KO
Uhnoo
I
I
Lagergren
A
A
Akre
T
T
Svensson
L
L
D000328:Adult; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*