Prevalence of unusual human rotavirus strains in Ghanaian children

Sixty-seven rotavirus-positive fecal samples, collected between January and April 1999, from children with diarrhea in the Upper East Region of Ghana were examined for rotavirus VP7 and VP4 types. Sufficient viral RNA could b e obtained from 46 (68.7%) of the samples and all the isolates had short el ectrophoretic pattern and typed as subgroup I rotaviruses by subgroup ELISA . Three rotavirus strains with G8 specificity were identified for the first time in Ghana. G and P typing by PCR identified two distinct strains, P[6] G2 (50%) and P[6]G8 (4.3%). Eighty-two percent of the isolates (n = 38) wer e of the "putative" neonatal P[6] genotype. Two of these G8 isolates carrie d the VP4 P[6] genotype whereas the third could not be assigned a P type. M ixed infections of G1, G2, G3 and G8 were detected amongst the stool sample s. The presence of these unusual strains, especially the high incidence of G2 rotavirus strains in Ghana, reinforces the need to put in place a survei llance system for the detection of new and exotic rotavirus strains, that w ill provide information on the spread of these strains in West Africa as we ll as useful data for the formulation of the next generation of rotavirus v accines. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.