Cocirculation of different rotavirus strains in a local outbreak of infantile gastroenteritis: monitoring by rapid and sensitive nucleic acid analysis.

Rotaviruses isolated from 22 patients during a local outbreak of infantile gastroenteritis in October/November 1981 were genotyped by establishing their RNA migration patterns on polyacrylamide gels. A highly sensitive silver staining procedure was used to visualize the RNAs. It was found that strains with at least four different RNA patterns cocirculated and also showed serological differences.