Serotyping of human rotaviruses in Argentina by ELISA with monoclonal antibodies.

Human rotaviruses are the major, recognized cause of infantile diarrhea worldwide. Characterization of naturally occurring human isolates indicates that there are six human rotavirus serotypes, four of which (serotype 1 to 4) are widespread. We utilized monoclonal antibodies specific for the VP of serotypes 1, 2, 3, and 4 as capture antibody in a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent to serotype rotaviruses directly in stool samples. The stool samples were collected from 1983 through 1986, from two epidemiologic studies in the area of Buenos Aires, Argentina. All four serotypes assayed were found Serotype 2 and 3 viruses, which were detected most frequently in 1983 and 1984, were virtually undetected in 1985 and 1986 (chi 2 = 23, P = less than 0.001 for this difference). No significant difference was noted among the three collection sites for serotype prevalence. These results indicate that the changing predominance of rotavirus serotype in a given region can involve multiple serotypes at the same time. Analysis of an outbreak of diarrhea in two neighboring families which occurred during a prospective study of community diarrhea documented inter- and intra-family spread of one serotype of virus.