Abstract

AMARILLA, A; FARINA, N; RUSSOMANDO, G  and  PARRA, GI. Short electropherotypes of rotavirus detected in adults with diarrhea in Paraguay. Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2005, vol.3, n.1, pp.47-50. ISSN 1812-9528.

Although rotavirus is recognized as the major ethiologic agent of acute diarrheal disease in children, the role of rotavirus as a pathogen in adults has long been underappreciated. In order to determine the electropherotypes of rotavirus that circulated in adults in Paraguay, 23 rotavirus isolated from patients older than 24 years (mean=42.5 range = 24-67) were analyzed by PAGE. Samples were collected at the Clinical Lab of the San Roque Hospital, Asunción,Paraguay from September 2003 to February 2005. Five different electropherotypes were detected, 19 samples showed long patterns (named LA, LB and LC) and 4 samples a short pattern (named SA and SB). Since 1998, our group has only detected one sample with a short pattern electropherotype (isolated in September 1999) in more than 1500 grounds of children with acute diarrhea. These results showed that it is necessary to study many epidemic years to detect rotavirus with short electropherotypes. However, we found that it is important to increase the demographic variables to find more rotavirus variability in a community, exemplified here by the short electropherotypes detected in adults.

Keywords : Diarrhea in adults; Rotavirus; Electropherotypes.

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