Methods of rotavirus detection, sero- and genotyping, sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis

The clinical symptoms associated with rotavirus (RV) gastroenteritis are not sufficiently characteristic to distinguish between RV infection and other causes of gastroenteritis. Therefore, laboratory procedures, including electron microscopy (EM) (1), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) (2), passive particle agglutination tests (PPAT) (3,4), polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) (5), or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) (6-8), are necessary to confirm a clinical diagnosis of RV gastroenteritis. Virus-shedding in the feces of RV-infected individuals, with up to 10(11) virus particles/mL feces at the peak of diarrhea, coincides with the duration of the diarrhea. However, virus-shedding can continue once symptoms have ceased (9). Laboratory diagnosis is relatively easy, either through the visualization of virus particles by EM, the detection of virus antigen (Ag) by ELISA or PPAT, or the detection of the virus genome by PAGE or RT-PCR.