Molecular characterization of group a rotavirus strains in Central Iraq

Around the globe, rotavirus is the most prevalent cause of diarrhea in infants and young children. causes 453,000 deaths and 2.4 million hospitalizations among children under the age of five years every year, with the highest frequency in developing countries. In epidemiological studies, the pattern and distribution of rotavirus genotypes in infants and young children in developing countries play a role, as well as giving a plan for future Rotavirus vaccine development. The goal of this study was to find out how prevalent Rotavirus strains are in children under the age of five, as well as what influence they have on severe gastroenteritis. A total of 100 stool specimens were studied, all of which were obtained from children under the age of five from September 2020 to January 2021. The children's ages ranged from one to sixty months. The Enzyme-Linked İmmunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) were used to evaluate the samples. Our ELISA and PCR findings showed that 41% of the samples were positive. Hemi-Nested Multiplex PCR was used to analyzed the genotyping. Genotype combination G1P8 was 34.14% followed by G2P8 14.63%, G1P6 12.19%, G4P8 7.31%, G4P6 2.43%. Rotavirus genotypes is a main risk factor of viral gastroenteritis in young children and infant as the percentage of rotavirus was high. The findings of this study point to important aspects of Rotavirus strain diversity in Iraq that contribute to the diversity of the current virus pool, which will aid future experiments to develop a vaccine that takes into account this apparent additional rotavirus strain diversity based on dynamics of rotavirus strains. In the future, further studies will be required. Keywords: Iraq, Rotavirus, Molecular typing, PCR