Rotavirus group, National Institute of Virology, 20-A, Dr. Ambedkar Road, Pune-411 001, India.
Abstracts of the papers presented at the XVIII National Conference of Indian Virological Society at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India, December 11–13, 2008.
Acute Gastroenteritis (AGE) is one of the most common diseases in humans with a significant cause of morbidity and mortality reported in developed and developing countries. Though, rotavirus is the leading viral agent associated with severe diarrhoea among infants and young children, enteroviruses (EVS) are also recognized as the etiological agents of gastroenteritis. The present study was conducted to know the prevalence of enteroviruses in sporadic infections of AGE in Pune, India. A total of 119 faecal specimens were collected during Jan 2006-Dec 2006 from children, < 5 years of age hospitalized for AGE. All specimens were tested for the presence of enterovirus by RT-PCR using primers selected from the conserved gene of enterovirus (5’NCR). Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were carried out to know the prevalent enterovirus genogroup(s). Of the 119 faecal specimens, 15 (12.6%) were tested positive. Clinical severity score calculation showed that majority of the patients (53.3%) with enterovirus infection experienced severe disease while 46.7% of the cases presented with moderate disease. Enterovirus infections were highest (60%) in the month of July. Sequence analysis (5’NCR) suggested the presence of enteroviruses with the highest homology (92.00–97.50%) to Coxsackievirus-A (CA) (40%), echoviruses (20%), HEV-B (13.3%) and CB (6.7%). Interestingly, two of the strains showed 94–95.30% homology with new strains, EV-74 and EV-84. Present study indicates the circulation of HEV-B (60%) in higher proportion in children with AGE.
