MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES ON ROTAVIRUS INFECTION CAUSING SEVERE DIARRHEA IN HUMAN, ANIMALS AND POULTRY

Abstract

The epidemiology of rotavirus infection in human, calves, sheep, goats and poultry were studied. Among total  of 800 collected fecal samples , 320 samples from human, 125 samples from calves, 82 samples from sheep, 7 samples from goats, 267 samples from poultry were collected from July 2010 to May 2011 and examined by Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis and Silver Staining (PAGE-SS) technique for the detection of presence of rotavirus dsRNA. Human rotavirus was detected 10.94 % (35/320) in diarrhoeic fecal samples. The highest prevalence was recorded in September 33.33% and the lowest in May 4.54%. The prevalence of rotavirus infections was 33.33% in autumn (September), 11.69% in late autumn (October-November), 9.6% in winter (December-January), 9.72% in spring (February- March), 6.12% in summer (April-May) season in diarrhoeic samples indicated the presence of rotavirus in human round the year in Bangladesh and as such no marked seasonal variation in rotavirus infection in human. No calves, sheep and goat fecal sample was found positive for rotavirus on PAGE-SS technique. During the study period, 267 faecal samples (diarrhoeic and nondiarrhoeic) of chicken (from one day to one month of age) were tested and only one was found positive on PAGE-SS technique for rotavirus infection (0.38%; 1/267). The positive cases were found in samples collected in winter season from layer chicks aged 10 days. The migration patterns of detected positive strains were not similar on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and their migration speed was different types. Five electropherotypes were determined among 35 human rotavirus positive samples. All the electropherotypes were under group A and long pattern. The genome migration of avian rotavirus was distinct from human types and under group D and long pattern. In the present study, it was not investigated that bacteria, parasite or any other viruses which might be responsible for development of diarrhoea.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjvm.v9i2.13473