Acute gastroenteritis in a pediatric hospital in rio de janeiro in pre- and post-rotavirus vaccination settings.

A 4(1/2)-year hospital-based survey was conducted in Rio de Janeiro to determine baseline rates of gastroenteritis-related cases, hospitalizations, and deaths; to examine the prevalence of rotavirus strains causing admissions; and to assess the immediate impact of the nationwide rotavirus immunization program launched in March 2006. From August 2002 to May 2007, 14,473 (10.4%) of the 139,747 consultations had AGE as primary diagnosis, 491 (3.

Changing distribution of human rotavirus serotypes during two epidemic outbreaks of gastroenteritis in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, 2003-2004: detection of G6 strains.

Background: Rotavirus serotypes G1-G4 and G9 are the most important agents of severe diarrhea in children worldwide.

Objective: To characterize rotavirus serotypes/genotypes causing two large outbreaks of diarrhea in Campinas, São Paulo, during 2003-2004.

Study: Rotavirus infection was investigated in 328 stool specimens collected from children and adults with diarrhea by PAGE and RT-PCR and further characterized by semi-nested PCR-typing assays.

Changing epidemiology of rotavirus-related hospitalizations in rio de janeiro, Brazil, from 2002 to 2006.

A prospective hospital-based sentinel study conducted in Rio de Janeiro identified a shift in the pattern (long to short electropherotype and P(8) to P(4) genotype) of rotavirus strains recovered from children with severe diarrhea a few months after the far-reaching Brazilian rotavirus immunization program was launched, posing new interesting challenges.

Biotin-psolaren labeled cDNA amplicons for genotyping rotavirus strains by dot hybridization assay.

A simple method to produce biotinylated probes by utilizing an amine-psoralen to conjugate an ester-biotin to nucleic acid molecules is described. It is simple, rapid, and well suited to label cDNA probes with any PCR-generated amplicon for hybridization assay. Its application to identify or to confirm the G and P genotypes of rotavirus-derived amplicons is described; however, it may be used to label amplicons of any origin.

Cloning, expression, and purification of recombinant bovine rotavirus hemagglutinin, VP8*, in Escherichia coli.

Rotavirus VP8* subunit is the minor trypsin cleavage product of the spike protein VP4, which is the major determinant of the viral infectivity and neutralization. To study the structure-function relationship of this fragment and to obtain type-specific reagents, substantial amounts of this protein are needed. Thus, full-length VP8* cDNA, including the entire trypsin cleavage-encoding region in gene 4, was synthesized and amplified by RT-PCR from total RNA purified from bovine rotavirus strain C486 propagated in MA104 cell culture.

Strong association between genotype F and hepatitis B virus (HBV) e antigen-negative variants among HBV-infected argentinean blood donors.

A number of reports have indicated an increased risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected individuals carrying HBV e antigen (HBeAg)-negative variants. Although distinct core promoter and precore mutations distributed according to geographical locality and viral genotype have been reported, epidemiological data from South America are still scarce. The prevalences of HBV genotypes and core promoter and precore polymorphisms in 75 HBeAg-negative Argentinean blood donors were surveyed.

1998-1999 rotavirus seasons in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil: detection of an unusual G3P[4] epidemic strain.

An epidemiologic survey on the rotavirus strains causing gastroenteritis in young children was conducted in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, in Southern Brazil during two consecutive seasons. Rotavirus was detected in 94 of the 1,056 fecal specimens collected from January 1998 to December 1999. Among the 13 discernible long electrophoretic profiles found, one was highly prevalent (73.