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Updated: Jan 6, 2026
Assays for the Specific Growth Rate and Cell-binding Ability of Rotavirus
Published on: January 28, 2019
Continuing rotavirus circulation in children and adults despite high coverage rotavirus vaccination in Finland
Jukka Markkula1, Maria Hemming-Harlo2, Carita Savolainen-Kopra3
1Vaccine Research Center, Tampere University, Biokatu 10, 33520 Tampere, Finland.
Objectives:
To determine occurrence of residual rotavirus (RV) disease in different age groups in Finland after five to nine years of high coverage (≥90%) mass-vaccination with RotaTeqⓇ vaccine, and to examine the vaccine effect on circulating genotypes.
Methods:
Since 2013 all clinical laboratories in the country were obliged to send RV positive stool samples for typing. RVs were genotyped by RT-PCR for VP7 and VP4 proteins, sequenced and compared to reference strains.
Results:
RV continued to circulate throughout the study period at low level with a small increase in 2017-2018. There were three age-related clusters: young children representing primary or secondary vaccine failures, school-age children who may not have been vaccinated, and the elderly. Genotype distribution differed from the pre-vaccination period with a steady decline of G1P[8], emergence of G9P[8] and especially more recently G12P[8]. In the elderly, G2P[4] was predominant but was also replaced by G12P[8] in 2017-18.
Conclusions:
RV vaccination with a high coverage keeps RV disease at low level but does not prevent RV circulation. New RV genotypes have emerged replacing largely the previously predominant G1P[8]. Increase of overall RV activity with emergence of G12P[8] in the latest follow-up season 2017-18 might be a potential alarm sign.
