Molecular analysis of G3 rotavirus among infants and children in Dhaka City, Bangladesh after 1993

Between 2004 and 2005, 917 fecal specimens were collected from children below age 5 who presented to Child Health Institute for treatment of diarrhoea in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. The specimens were screened by RT-PCR for the presence of group A rotavirus and positive stools genotyped. Group A rotavirus was detected in 307 stools and serotype G3P[8] strains were detected in nine specimens. Sequence analysis clustered the G3 strains into one distinct lineage (lineage I) with other Asian G3 strains. In addition, one amino acid change at position 96 in antigenic region A, similar to lineage II G3 Chinese strains, was noted. To our knowledge this is the first report of serotype G3 strains in Bangladesh since 1993 and the first report of the molecular characterization of these strains.