Group A Rotaviruses in Chinese Bats: Genetic Composition, Serology, and Evidence for Bat-to-Human Transmission and Reassortment.

ABSTRACT: Bats are natural reservoirs for many pathogenic viruses, and increasing evidence supports the notion that bats can also harbor group A rotaviruses (RVAs), important causative agents of diarrhea in children and young animals. Currently, 8 RVA strains possessing completely novel genotype constellations or genotypes possibly originating from other mammals have been identified from African and Chinese bats. However, all the data were mainly based on detection of RVA RNA, present only during acute infections, which does not permit assessment of the true exposure of a bat population to RVA. To systematically investigate the genetic diversity of RVAs, 547 bat anal swabs or gut samples along with 448 bat sera were collected from five South Chinese provinces. Specific reverse transcription-PCR (RT-

SUBMITTER: He B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5446661 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature