The Distribution of G (VP7) and P (VP4) Serotypes among Human Rotaviruses Recovered from Japanese Children with Diarrhea

Abstract
Both the G (VP7) and P (VP4) serotypes of human rotaviruses collected over a 10‐year period from Japanese children with diarrhea were determined by recently‐developed polymerase chain reaction‐based typing assays. The combination of G1 and P8 was found in 65.2% and the combination of G2 and P4 was found in 15.2%. For the rest of the specimens, only a few other combinations occurred and their relative frequencies were less than 10%. The viruses carrying P9 were always associated with G3 as is the prototype strain AU‐1.