Molecular epidemiology of human rotavirus infection in children in Hong Kong.

Rotavirus was identified in 256 (28.5%) of 899 hospitalized children with diarrhea during a 12-month period in Hong Kong. Fourteen electropherotypes were identified, and the appearance of each occurred in a sequential manner during the study period. One patient was shown to be mixedly infected with two prevalent electropherotypes. Sequential stool specimens from another case showed the appearance of an extra RNA band during the course of the diarrheal episode.