Diversity of Rotavirus Strains Circulating in Botswana before and after introduction of the Monovalent Rotavirus Vaccine

Abstract Background Globally, rotavirus is the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in children aged Subjects and methods Residual samples from 284 children Results Prior to vaccine introduction, the predominant rotavirus circulating genotypes were G9P[8] (n = 63, 60%) and G1P[8] (n = 22, 21%). During the vaccine period, G2P[4] was the predominant genotype (n = 49, 28%), followed by G9P[8] (n = 40, 22%) and G1P[8] (n = 33, 18.5%). There was a significant decline in the prevalence of G9P[8] (p = 0.001) in the post-vaccination period. There was also a notable decline in G1P[8]. A spike in G2P[4] was observed in 2013, one year post-vaccine introduction. Rotavirus strain G3P[4] (n = 8) was only detected in the post-vaccine introduction period. In 2018 there was a marked increase in genotype G3P[8] (p = 0.0003). Conclusions The distribution of circulating rotavirus genotypes in Botswana changed after vaccine implementation. Further studies are needed to examine whether these changes are related to vaccination or simply represent natural secular variation.