Epidemiological survey of human rotavirus serotypes and electropherotypes in young children admitted to two children's hospitals in northeast London from 1984 to 1990.

A retrospective and prospective survey was carried out to determine the relative frequency of rotavirus serotypes infecting children with diarrhea or vomiting or both who were admitted to the Hospitals for Sick Children in London during a 6-year period from 1984 to 1990. The results were compared with data for the same period from a study in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The serotype of rotaviruses infecting 1,019 children was ascertained by enzyme immunoassay with VP7-specific monoclonal antibodies. In London, serotype G1 accounted for 60% of the cases, serotype G4 accounted for 24%, serotype G2 accounted for 11%, G3 accounted for 3%, and coinfections accounted for 2%. Considerable differences in the relative prevalence of serotypes were seen when data from London and Birmingham were compared. A major shift from serotype G1 to G4 was observed in London in the 1989 to 1990 season, and a lesser shift was seen in Birmingham. Examination of the electrophoretic profiles of 611 rotaviruses from London showed that there were at least 108 different profiles. Continuous variation occurred throughout the 6-year period, and the same electropherotype never recurred once it had disappeared from the population. None of the electrophoretic profiles were characteristic of group B or group C rotaviruses. There was no evidence that any strain of rotavirus had become endemic in either of the children's hospitals in London.