Characterization of mixed infections with different strains of bovine rotavirus in an outbreak of diarrhea in dairy herds in Golas, Brazil

Ten faecal samples of bovine rotavirus from calves less than 30 days old fr om an outbreak of diarrhea in Hidrolandia, Goias, Brazil were submitted to serological and molecular characterization, using enzyme immunoassay for su bgrouping and serotyping, PAGE for determination of electropherotypes and P CR for genome typing. Nine samples belonged to group A/subgroup I rotavirus and one sample was group A / subgroup non-I/non-II. Four samples were char acterized as G10PE[11] (B223-like), four samples showed a mixture of two ro tavirus strains (G6G10 and P[5]P[11]), one sample was characterized as G6P[ 11] and one sample was characterized only by G serotyping/genotyping, and d id not react with any P primer used. Two electropherotypes were detected an d both were present in the same animal. This study demonstrates that two di fferent electropherotypes and/or serotypes of bovine rotavirus can circulat e in the same outbreak.