Epidemiology and HBGA-susceptibility investigation of a G9P[8] rotavirus outbreak in a school in Lechang, China
- 6 April 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Archiv für die gesamte Virusforschung
- Vol. 165 (6), 1311-1320
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-020-04608-4
Abstract
Rotaviruses cause severe gastroenteritis in infants, in which the viruses interact with human histo-blood group antigens (HBGAs) as attachment and host susceptibility factors. While gastroenteritis outbreaks caused by rotaviruses are uncommon in adolescents, we reported here one that occurred in a middle school in China. Rectal swabs and saliva samples were collected from symptomatic and asymptomatic students, and samples were also collected from the environment. Using PCR, followed by DNA sequencing, a single G9P[8] rotavirus strain was identified as the causative agent. The attack rate of the outbreak was 13.5% for boarders, which was significantly higher than that of day students (1.8%). Person-to-person transmission was the most plausible transmission mode. The HBGA phenotypes of the individuals in the study were determined by enzyme immunoassay, using saliva samples, while recombinant VP8* protein of the causative rotavirus strain was produced for HBGA binding assays to evaluate the host susceptibility. Our data showed that secretor individuals had a significantly higher risk of infection than nonsecretors. Accordingly, the VP8* protein bound nearly all secretor saliva samples, but not those of nonsecretors, explaining the observed infection of secretor individuals only. This is the first single-outbreak-based investigation showing that P[8] rotavirus infected only secretors. Our investigation also suggests that health education of school students is an important countermeasure against an outbreak of communicable disease.Funding Information
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81773975, 31771007, 81473402)
- Special Fund for Science and Technology Innovation of Guangdong Province (2019A1515010951)
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