Detection of group B rotavirus in an adult with acute gastroenteritis in Yangon,Myanmar

In Yangon, Myanmar, a human group B rotavirus was first detected in 2007 in a stool specimen from a sporadic case of acute gastroenteritis in an adult. The strain was designated as MMR‐B1. The full‐length sequences of the MMR‐B1 genes encoding VP7, VP4 (VP5* and VP8*), VP6, and NSP4 were determined for genetic characterization. These four MMR‐B1 genes showed considerable higher sequence identities (97.2–98.4%) to those of group B rotaviruses detected in India (CAL‐1 in 1998) and Bangladesh (Bang373 and Bang544 in 2000 and 2001, respectively) than to those of Chinese strains (90.7–93.6%) (ADRV and WH‐1 in 1982 and 2002, respectively). Phylogenetically, the four genes of MMR‐B1 were clustered into the Indian–Bangladeshi lineage. Although the deduced amino acid sequences of MMR‐B1 were similar to those of strains CAL‐1 and Bang373, several amino acids in VP8* were found to be different from those of the group B rotaviruses described previously. The first detection in Myanmar of a human group B rotavirus suggested endemic distribution or expansion of the group B rotavirus of the Indian–Bangladeshi lineage in Southeast Asia. J. Med. Virol. 81:1968–1974, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.