[Virological and serological study of rotavirus gastroenteritis]

Cases of acute gastroenteritis with negative bacteriological analyses were examined. Preparations of feces collected from patients in the acute stage of the disease were found by immune electron microscopy to contain typical rotavirus particles forming specific aggregates in the presence of convalescent sera. Examinations of paired acute and convalescent sera of the patients revealed the presence in convalescent sera of specific antibodies neutralizing simian rotavirus SA 11 antigenically related to human rotavirus. The specificity of the antibody was confirmed by their titrations by immune electron microscopy and HI test. Thus, rotavirus etiology of cases of gastroenteritis in various parts of the country was confirmed, and the possibility of specific laboratory diagnosis of such cases using simian rotavirus SA 11 was demonstrated.