Emergence of equine-like G3 strains as the dominant rotavirus among children under five with diarrhea in Sabah, Malaysia  during 2018-2019.
Authors: Amit Lia Natasha, Mori Daisuke, John Jecelyn Leaslie, Chin Abraham Zefong, Mosiun Andau Konodan, Jeffree Mohammad Saffree, Ahmed Kamruddin
Journal: PloS one
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Equine-like G3 Rotavirus Dominance in Sabah Rotavirus remains a significant cause of diarrhoea in young children across developing regions, yet Malaysia's national immunisation programme has not adopted rotavirus vaccines, partly owing to limited epidemiological data on circulating genotypes. Between January 2018 and March 2019, researchers collected stool samples from children under five with watery diarrhoea in Sabah, using commercially available antigen detection kits combined with RT-PCR genotyping and phylogenetic analysis to characterise the rotavirus strains present. Rotavirus was detected in 43 children (15.1%), with equine-like G3P[8] strains representing the dominant genotype (59.5%), significantly outnumbering G1P[8] (14%), G12P[6] (7%), and other variants; notably, affected children were predominantly male (1.9:1 ratio) and aged 12–23 months. The antigenic differences between circulating G3 strains and the RotaTeq vaccine strain, coupled with substantial genetic diversity and evidence of inter-country phylogenetic linkage, suggests limited vaccine effectiveness against the prevailing strains in this population. For equine professionals and other animal-health workers, these findings underscore the zoonotic potential of rotavirus evolution—particularly given Sabah's cultural proximity between human and animal populations—and highlight the need for continued surveillance to guide evidence-based vaccination policy and monitor post-vaccination disease patterns in regions with high genotype diversity.
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Practical Takeaways
- •This is a human virology study with no relevance to equine practice; despite the title's reference to 'equine-like' strains, the research concerns rotavirus infection in children and has no applicability to horse health or management
- •The equine-like nomenclature refers only to a genetic classification of rotavirus strains affecting humans, not actual equine disease
Key Findings
- •Rotavirus detected in 43 of 285 children (15.1%) with watery diarrhea in Sabah, Malaysia between 2018-2019
- •Equine-like G3P[8] was the predominant strain (59.5% of cases), followed by G1P[8] (14%) and G12P[6] (7%)
- •Substantial genetic diversity identified with 11 different electropherotypes among 34 strains, with phylogenetic relationships to international strains
- •Antigenic epitopes on VP7 and VP4 of circulating G3 and equine-like G3 strains differed considerably from RotaTeq vaccine strain