Browsing by Author "Desselberger, Ulrich"

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    The epidemiology of rotavirus disease in under-five-year-old children hospitalized with acute diarrhea in central Uganda, 2012-2013
    (Archives of virology, 2016) Bwogi, Josephine; Malamba, Samuel; Kigozi, Brian; Namuwulya, Prossy; Tushabe, Phionah; Kiguli, Sarah; Karuhize Byarugaba, Denis; Desselberger, Ulrich; Iturriza-Gomara, Miren; Karamagi, Charles
    A cross-sectional study was undertaken during 2012-2013 to determine the prevalence, strains and factors associated with rotavirus infection among under-5-year-old children hospitalized with acute diarrhea in Uganda. Rotaviruses were detected in 37 % (263/712) of the children. The most prevalent strains were G9P[8] (27 %, 55/204) and G12P[4] (18.6 %, 38/204). Mixed infections were detected in 22.5 % (46/204) of the children. The study suggests that consumption of raw vegetables (OR = 1.45, 95 % CI = 1.03-2.03) and family ownership of dogs (OR = 1.9, 95 % CI = 1.04-3.75) increases the risk of rotavirus infection. The study findings will be used to assess the impact of RV vaccination in Uganda.
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    Whole genome analysis of selected human and animal rotaviruses identified in Uganda from 2012 to 2014 reveals complex genome reassortment events between human, bovine, caprine and porcine strains
    (PLoS ONE, 2017) Bwogi, Josephine; Jere, Khuzwayo C.; Karamagi, Charles; Byarugaba, Denis K.; Namuwulya, Prossy; Baliraine, Frederick N.; Desselberger, Ulrich; Iturriza-Gomara, Miren
    Rotaviruses of species A (RVA) are a common cause of diarrhoea in children and the young of various other mammals and birds worldwide. To investigate possible interspecies transmission of RVAs, whole genomes of 18 human and 6 domestic animal RVA strains identified in Uganda between 2012 and 2014 were sequenced using the Illumina HiSeq platform. The backbone of the human RVA strains had either a Wa- or a DS-1-like genetic constellation. One human strain was a Wa-like mono-reassortant containing a DS-1-like VP2 gene of possible animal origin. All eleven genes of one bovine RVA strain were closely related to those of human RVAs. One caprine strain had a mixed genotype backbone, suggesting that it emerged from multiple reassortment events involving different host species. The porcine RVA strains had mixed genotype backbones with possible multiple reassortant events with strains of human and bovine origin.Overall, whole genome characterisation of rotaviruses found in domestic animals in Uganda strongly suggested the presence of human-to animal RVA transmission, with concomitant circulation of multi-reassortant strains potentially derived from complex interspecies transmission events. However, whole genome data from the human RVA strains causing moderate and severe diarrhoea in under-fives in Uganda indicated that they were primarily transmitted from person-to-person.