Mb. Taylor et al., Characterisation of a South African human astrovirus as type 8 by antigenic and genetic analyses, J MED VIROL, 64(3), 2001, pp. 256-261
Human astroviruses (HAstV) can, on the basis of immunoassays using type-spe
cific rabbit antisera, be classified into eight serotypes that correlate wi
th genotypes. Very few isolates of HAstV type 8 have been described and the
re is a paucity of data available with regard to the antigenic and genetic
relationships between HAstV type 8 (HAstV-8) and HAstV types 1 (HAstV-1) to
7 (HAstV-7). A wild-type HAstV from a South African paediatric patient wit
h diarrhoea was analysed antigenically, by immune electron microscopy and e
nzyme immunoassay, and genetically in selected regions of the ORF1a, ORF1b
and ORF2 and characterised as a HAstV-8. This HAstV-8 strain exhibited grea
test homology with HAstV-4 in the 5 ' end of the capsid gene and ORF1a and
Ib, and greatest homology with HAstV-5 in the 3 ' end of the capsid region.
This study confirms, by both antigenic and genetic analyses, that HAstV-8
represents a distinct antigenic and genotype and is the first report of a H
AstV-8 from a hospitalised paediatric patient with diarrhoea in southern Af
rica. J. Mad. Virol. 64:256-261, 2001. (C) 2001 Wiley-liss, Inc.