The prevalence and potential zoonotic transmission of group C rotavirus (RVC) were examined by testing fecal samples collected from children during a longitudinal study that was carried out in the outskirts of Belém, Brazil, from December 1982 to March 1986. The study involved a group of 30 children who were followed from birth to 3 years. Of the 77 samples tested from 29 children, 5 (6.5%) were positive for human and 3 (4%) for porcine RVC by using nested PCR assay with primers specific for VP6 gene of human or porcine RVC and by Southern hybridization using a probe specific for VP6 gene of both human and porcine RVC. In addition, a total of 59 fecal specimens from the 30th child were tested, 1 (1.7%) and 14 (23.7%) were positive for human and porcine RVC, respectively. Partial nucleotide sequences of VP6 gene demonstrated that the six human strains detected in Brazil were homologous with other human RVC, and 14 of the 17 porcine RVC strains examined showed a complete homology among themselves but differed slightly from the porcine Cowden strain, suggesting that a single porcine RVC strain was circulating in Belém. This study is the first to provide evidence for transmission of RVC from swine to human. They also indicate that both human and porcine RVC were endemic in Belém.

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Worldwide human astroviruses (HAstV) have increasingly been recognized as causative agents of viral gastroenteritis, mainly in infants and young children. The aim of this study was to assess the epidemiology and genotype diversity of HAstVs detected in children who participated in a trial in Belém, Brazil with the rhesus human reassortant rotavirus vaccine tetravalent (RRV-TV). From April/1990 to August/1992, 624 diarrheic stool samples were tested by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for HAstV, with a positive rate of 4.0%. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was done in 129 samples (25 positive and 104 with twice the optical density (OD) value of negative control by EIA) being 33 positive. The overall positivity yielded by both methods was 5.4% (34/624). Genotyping of the 33 positive samples was done by type-specific RT-PCR and confirmed by sequence analysis. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using a 348-bp fragment of the ORF2 region of the capsid gene. HAstV-1 was the most prevalent, accounting for 45.5% of the isolates, followed by HAstV-2 (27.3%), HAstV-3 (12.1%), HAstV-4 (12.1%), and HAstV-6 (3.0%). The monthly distribution showed that HAstV-1 was predominant in the first year of study (May/1990 to May/1991) with highest prevalence in January/1991. HAstV-2 was predominant from July to November/1991 and HAstV-4 from September to October/1990. At 24 months of age, 30.6% of children had been infected by HAstV. The clinical symptoms registered during HAstV associated-diarrhea were usually mild. These data highlight the circulation of the different HAstV genotypes in Belém during the study period.

A human rotavirus strain (NB-150) was detected in stool samples from a neonate hospitalized for mild/moderate community-acquired diarrhoea. This baby lived in the outskirts of Belé m, Brazil, under poor sanitation conditions. The NB-150 strain displayed a typical long electrophoretic pattern with 11 gene segments. It had two VP7 alleles, G1 and G4, and belonged to VP6 subgroup II. A close relatedness with human rotaviruses was shown for VP7 alleles: G1 (96.9-100 % similarity at the amino acid level) and G4 (97.1-100 % similarity at the amino acid level). As for VP6, 95.1-97.5 % similarity at the amino acid level was noted. VP8* and NSP4 genes showed a close relatedness with those of porcine rotavirus strains, as follows: VP8* (95.0 % similarity at the amino acid level) and NSP4 (93.7-96.0 % similarity at the amino acid level). This is believed to be the first report in Brazil of a rotavirus infection involving a strain with G1 and G4 alleles, with VP8* and NSP4 genes of porcine origin. These findings strongly suggest the occurrence of interspecies transmission.

On a world scale, group A human rotaviruses are the most common cause of severe acute gastroenteritis during infancy and childhood, including five (G1, G2, G3, G4, and G9) epidemiologically important genotypes. Among these, G2 denotes a different genogroup which appears to have a cyclic pattern of occurrence and yet little information is available about its genetic variability. The aim of this report was to characterize the emergence of G2 genotype in Paraupebas, Southern Pará State, Brazil, some of which detected after introduction of rotavirus vaccine. A total of 241 fecal specimens from young children with acute gastroenteritis were collected from the "Yutaka Takeda Hospital," a Municipality Hospital, and at the Parauapebas' Health Unit, Pará, from January to September 2006 and during March to November 2008. All samples were tested for rotavirus using immunochromatography, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), and RT-PCR, yielding an overall positivity of 12.45% (30/241). Rotavirus G2P[4] was identified in 27 of 30 samples (90%), followed by G1P[8] (2/30, 6.67%) and G9P[8] (1/30, 3.33%). Phylogenetic analysis was performed in 15 of the G2 strains, all of which grouped into lineage II. Four of these strains clustered into sublineage II-a (year 2006) and 11 into one possible new sublineage named II-c (year 2008, except SAL-1920-C). The recent re-emergence of G2 genotype associated with lineage II in Brazil warrants the continuous monitoring of circulating rotavirus strains following the nationwide universal use of rotavirus vaccine.

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Investigation of the aetiology of viral meningitis in Brazil is most often restricted to cases that occur in the Oberste et al. (1999). This study described the first molecular characterization of Echo 30 in Brazil and this will certainly contribute to future molecular analyses involving strains detected in other regions of Brazil.