Outbreak of acute gastroenteritis associated with group A rotavirus and genogroup I sapovirus among adults in a mental health care facility in Japan
✍ Scribed by Hainian Yan; Toshiaki Abe; Tung Gia Phan; Tuan Anh Nguyen; Tatuya Iso; Yasunori Ikezawa; Kiyo Ishii; Shoko Okitsu; Hiroshi Ushijima
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2005
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 147 KB
- Volume
- 75
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0146-6615
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✦ Synopsis
An outbreak of acute gastroenteritis consisting of 57 cases occurred in a mental health care facility in Takasaki city, Japan during 6th February and 27th March 2002. A total of 18 fecal specimens collected from 17 residents and one member of the medical staff during this outbreak were tested for the presence of viral enteropathogens by RT-PCR and latex agglutination. Group A rotavirus and sapovirus were detected in 5 out of 18 fecal specimens (55.6%). To our knowledge, this is the first finding of an outbreak of gastroenteritis associated with co-circulation of different kinds of viruses such as group A rotavirus and sapovirus. All of group A rotaviruses were typed further as P[4]G2 strains. Both rotavirus and sapovirus were subjected to molecular analysis by sequencing. It was noteworthy that all rotaviruses and sapoviruses had high homologies, respectively, to each other and sapoviruses presented a potential novel sapovirus genogroup I (GI) genotype, which was obviously different from any GI genotypes (GI-a, b, c, and d). The outbreak associated with these viruses spread gradually from dormitory to dormitory, suggesting a spread by person-to-person contact, although investigation on the route of transmission of the outbreak is lacking. The findings confirm the presence of group A rotavirus and sapovirus are important in acute gastroenteritis among adults in Japan.