TYPING OF HUMAN ASTROVIRUSES FROM CLINICAL ISOLATES BY ENZYME-IMMUNOASSAY AND NUCLEOTIDE SEQUENCING

A typing enzyme immunoassay (TYPE-EIA) was used to determine the antigenic types of 64 astrovirus-positive specimens from nine collections from seven countries, Six of the seven known astrovirus types were detected in the collections, with HAstV-1 predominating in all collections except for one from the United Kingdom. Selected specimens were analyzed further by reverse transcriptase PCR and nucleotide sequencing of 348 bp within the capsid protein precursor region of the genome. The phylogenetic groupings (genotypes) determined from the sequences were entirely consistent with the antigenic groupings (serotypes) of isolates obtained by using the TYPE-EIA. The genetic variation within genotypes was small compared with the variation between genotypes, allowing unambiguous categorization of all specimens. Although some strains from widely separated geographic areas had identical sequences, in general, within a region most strains of the same type were identical. The TYPE-EIA may help further our understanding of the epidemiology of astrovirus and the possible role of serotype-specific immunity, while further knowledge of sequences could facilitate the development of simpler molecular methods of typing astrovirus strains.