Detection of a novel species A, DS‐1‐like, G4P[6] rotavirus strain from a Brazilian child with gastroenteritis

Abstract

Rotaviruses belonging to species A (RVA) remain among the most common causes of severe gastroenteritis in children aged <5 years, leading to substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide. Genome reassortment events between two human strains or human and animal strains represent one of the mechanisms which appear to generate the broad genetic variability of circulating. According to a nucleotide, sequence-based classification system, RVA strains are currently classified into three genotype constellations including Wa-like (genogroup I), DS-1-like (genogroup II), and AU-like (genogroup III). The present study reports the detection of an unusual RVA G4P[6] strain (coded as strain HSE005), which might have originated from a natural reassortment event between human and animal RVA strains. Molecular characterization of this isolate showed that it belonged to genogroup II, genotype G4P[6]. In addition, two genes (VP3 and NSP4) of this strain denoted evidence of reassortment events involving strains of distinct zoonotic evolutionary origins. Therefore, we propose that a new G4P[6] strain was identified, highlighting a possible first zoonotic transmission including a reassortment event that involved the VP3 gene.

Investigation of Human and Animal Viruses in Water Matrices from a Rural Area in Southeastern Region of Brazil and Their Potential Use as Microbial Source-Tracking Markers

“…In developing countries, as in Brazil, rotavirus A (RVA) plays an important environmental role, since it is still detected in high concentrations in different environmental matrices, even after the implementation of a vaccination program. RVA are important viral agents of acute gastroenteritis, infecting different animal species, which occasionally can generate genetic reactions by breaching the species barrier (Silva Bandeira et al, 2022;Flores et al, 2021). In rural areas with poor sanitation, it is of great importance to identify the source of contamination to provide data that facilitate mitigating actions thus pointing to possible virus interactions between humans and animals.…”