Genotyping of Rotaviruses in River Nile in Giza, Egypt

Background: in 2013, who estimated the annual diarrheal mortality rate among children less than five years in egypt was 24 deaths per 100.000, 2% was due to rotavirus infection. methods: eight water samples were collected monthly from the nile water stream passing through giza over 12 months during june 2016 to may 2017. totally, ninety-six water samples were collected and concentrated for the detection of rotavirus group a (rv-a) using rt-pcr. multiplex semi-nested rt-pcr was performed to identify the genotypes p and g of rv-a. results: the detection rate of rv-a was 18.75% (18/96), whereas the rate of rotavirus genotypes g and p were 61% (11/18) and 50% (9/18), respectively. rotaviruses g1p[8] and g1p[4] were the most common genotypes identified in our survey. in addition, the seasonal distribution findings demonstrated that the highest detection rate was 37.5% in the winter season, followed by 20.8%, 12.5% and 4% in spring, autumn and summer, respectively. conclusion: multiplex semi-nested rt-pcr is a useful method for rapid detection and genotyping of rv-a in surface water samples.