Detection And Molecular Characterization Of Rotavirus A Antigen In Fecal Samples From Diarrheic And Non-Diarrheic Pigs In Maputo City And Province, Southern Of Mozambique

Purpose: Rotavirus A (RVA) has been identified as an assured cause of severe gastroenteritis in humans as well as in pigs throughout the world. Studies on the genetic constitution of RVA strains in humans have shown a prevalence of P[6], P[8] and G8 genotypes with animal origin, in particular from pigs, goats or other ungulates. In Mozambique, to our knowledge, there are no studies on RVA in swines, which makes it difficult to trigger control measures and understand the importance of this animal species on human rotavirus diversity in the country. The aim of this study was to detect and characterize molecularly rotavirus of group A in diarrheic and non-diarrheic pigs from Maputo city and province, southern of Mozambique. Methods & Materials: Between August and September 2016, 288 swine's fecal samples from diarrheic and non-diarrheic pigs up to 3 months of age, from familiar and commercial herds of Maputo province and city were collected, sent to Virology Laboratory of the Animal Sciences Direction (DCA) and stored at −20 °C. The samples were tested using a commercially available ELISA kit (ProSpecT™ Rotavirus, Oxoid, United Kingdom) according to the manufacturer's recommendations and the positive samples were genotyped by nested-PCR. Results: From 288 processed samples, 11,8% (34/288) were positive for RVA antigen, in which 85,3% (29/34) were non-diarrheal and 14,7% (5/34) diarrheal samples. From the positive samples, 35,3% (12/34) were from animals with 2 months of age, 29,4% (10/34) <1 month, 23,5% (8/34) with 3 months and 11,8% (4/34) were 1 month of age. From positive samples on ELISA, 13 were tested by nested-PCR, from which 9 were positive for P genotype (8 for P[6] and 1 for P[1]). It was not possible to characterize for G genotype. Conclusion: The study showed that porcine RVA circulates in Mozambique in symptomatic and asymptomatic pigs, suggesting that asymptomatic animals can spread the virus to other animals and humans due the potential zoonotic of porcine genotypes described previously. The P[6] genotype was the most frequent and full genome sequencing is being performed from the positive samples for further analysis.