Rotavirus genotypes in children under five years hospitalized with diarrhea in low and middle-income countries: Results from the WHO-coordinated Global Rotavirus Surveillance Network
Sébastien Antoni, Tomoka Nakamura, Adam L. Cohen, Jason M. Mwenda, Goitom Weldegebriel, Joseph Biey, Keith Shaba, Gloria Rey-Benito, Lúcia Helena de Oliveira, María Tereza da Costa Oliveira, Claudia Patricia Ortíz, Amany Ghoniem, Kamal Fahmy, Hossam Ashmony, Dovile Videbaek, Danni Daniels, Roberta Pastore, Simarjit Singh, Emmanuel Tondo, Jayantha Liyanage, Mohammed Sharifuzzaman, Varja Grabovac, Batmunkh Nyambat, Josephine Logronio, George Armah, Francis E. Dennis, Mapaseka Seheri, Nonkululeko B. Magagula, M. Jeffrey Mphahlele, José Paulo Gagliardi Leite, Irene Trigueiros Araújo, Túlio Machado Fumian, Hanan El Mohammady, Г. В. Семейко, Elena Samoilovich, Sidhartha Giri, Gagandeep Kang, Sarah Thomas, Julie E. Bines, Carl D. Kirkwood, Na Liu, Deog‐Yong Lee, Mirren Iturriza-Gomara, Nicola Page, Mathew D. Esona, M. Leanne Ward, Courtnee N. Wright, Slavica Mijatovic-Rustempasic, Jacqueline E. Tate, Umesh D. Parashar, Jon R. Gentsch, Michael D. Bowen, Fatima Serhan
Abstract
Rotavirus is the most common pathogen causing pediatric diarrhea and an important cause of morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries. Previous evidence suggests that the introduction of rotavirus vaccines in national immunization schedules resulted in dramatic declines in disease burden but may also be changing the rotavirus genetic landscape and driving the emergence of new genotypes. We report genotype data of more than 16,000 rotavirus isolates from 40 countries participating in the Global Rotavirus Surveillance Network. Data from a convenience sample of children under five years of age hospitalized with acute watery diarrhea who tested positive for rotavirus were included. Country results were weighted by their estimated rotavirus disease burden to estimate regional genotype distributions. Globally, the most frequent genotypes identified after weighting were G1P[8] (31%), G1P[6] (8%) and G3P[8] (8%). Genotypes varied across WHO Regions and between countries that had and had not introduced rotavirus vaccine. G1P[8] was less frequent among African (36 vs 20%) and European (33 vs 8%) countries that had introduced rotavirus vaccines as compared to countries that had not introduced. Our results describe differences in the distribution of the most common rotavirus genotypes in children with diarrhea in low- and middle-income countries. G1P[8] was less frequent in countries that had introduced the rotavirus vaccine while different strains are emerging or re-emerging in different regions.