Distribution of rotavirus VP7 genotypes among children suffering from watery diarrhea in Kolkata, India.

A combined reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT/PCR) was used to produce cDNA of the VP7 gene of rotavirus present in the stool samples. A total of 150 rotavirus positive stool samples were used in this study. Multiplex PCR, using the type specific primers, revealed the presence of G1 (49/150, 32.7%), G2 (27/150, 18%) and G4 (30/150, 20%) genotypes among the samples collected during 1999-2000 from children suffering from acute watery diarrhea. Eighteen samples (12%) were of mixed genotype and the remaining 16 samples (10.6%) could not be typed. Comparative analysis of the full length genes of the representative strains with corresponding genotypes incorporated in the human-rhesus rotavirus tetravalent vaccine (RRV-TV) formulation demonstrates variations of the circulating G1, G2 and G4 strains with the corresponding G genotypes present in the vaccine strain.