ENZYME-LINKED-IMMUNOSORBENT-ASSAY BASED ON RECOMBINANT HUMAN GROUP-C ROTAVIRUS INNER CAPSID PROTEIN (VP6) TO DETECT HUMAN GROUP-C ROTAVIRUSES IN FECAL SAMPLES

A recent study showed that 43% of a population in the United Kingdom w ere seropositive for group C rotavirus, The higher than expected incid ence may be due to limited diagnosis of acute human group C rotavirus infections because no routine test is available. Human group C rotavir us infections are routinely diagnosed by electron microscopy (EM) and a negative group A rotavirus enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) result. An antigen-detection ELISA was developed with hyperimmune ant ibodies raised to human group C rotavirus recombinant VP6 (Bristol str ain) expressed in insect cells. The assay was used to screen fecal sam ples to determine the prevalence of group C rotavirus infection. Sampl es positive by ELISA were confirmed by EM, polyacrylamide gel electrop horesis of double-stranded RNA, or detection of the VP6 gene by revers e transcription-PCR. Retrospective analysis indicated a 1 to 2% detect ion rate of positivity among samples from patients with acute diarrhea .