Detection of Rotaviruses in Urban Water Samples from a City in North China
北方某市城区水环境中轮状病毒的初步检测

Rotaviruses (RV) have been recognized as the most important cause of acute infectious gastroenteritis among infants and children worldwide since their discovery in the 1970s. Rotavirus infections are the major cause of diarrhea of infants and young children throughout China. In this paper, we applied a reported method with some modification to investigate rotaviruses by RT-nested PCR. Our results showed that rotaviruses were widely distributed in sewage treatment plants (STPs), lakes, drinking waters samples in October 2006. Sewage treatment processes in STPs were not efficient to eliminate rotavirus, which may lead to its spread to surface waters even drinking water. Our data corroborate recent evidence that drinking water is a potential reservoir for rotavirus infections.