Molecular epidemiological study on rotavirus diarrhea in infants in Suzhou

  Objective   To describe the molecular epidemiology of rotavirus diarr hea among children under 5 years old in Suzhou.

  Methods   To investigate the diarrhea infants under 5 years old in Suzhou child's hospital between Sep 2001 to Aug 2002, and tested the stool specimens collected from infants with diarrhea for rotavirus and typing by ELISA and PCR.

  Results   A total of 775 fecal specimens were selected in which 274(35.35%)were positive; The prevalent rotavirus G seroty pes were G3(40.15%)and G1(28.42%)and P genetype was P⁴(39.68%); Many uncommon and untyped rotavir uses were found in Suzhou.

  Conclusion   Rotavirus serotype G3 and genetype P⁴were prevalent strains in Suzhou, but many uncommon and untyped rotaviruses supported the possibility that they belonged to unconventional types.These data enforced the need for a continuous laboratory surveillance of rotavir us types in Suzhou to detect the introduction of new rotavirus types.