Rakau, Kebareng G.
Nyaga, Martin M.
Gededzha, Maemu P.
Mwenda, Jason M.
Mphahlele, M. Jeffrey
Seheri, L. Mapaseka
Steele, A. Duncan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4946-037X
Funding for this research was provided by:
South African Medical Research Council
National Research Foundation
Poliomyelitis Research Foundation
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF OPP1180423_2017)
Article History
Received: 21 July 2020
Accepted: 27 December 2020
First Online: 22 January 2021
Ethics approval and consent to participate
: The Research & Ethics Committee of Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University approved the study which was conducted in the laboratories of the university’s Diarrheal Pathogen Research Unit, Department of Virology (MREC/P/237/2014).The WHO Research Ethics Review Committee granted an ‘exemption activity’, noting that the procedures involved in the study sample collection are part of routine hospital-based rotavirus surveillance. The diarrheal stool samples were collected as routine diagnostic clinical specimens when the parents brought their child to a health facility for clinical management, in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Togo and Zambia, and no written informed consent was obtained.As part of the WHO-coordinated rotavirus surveillance network, the archived rotavirus-positive specimens, were anonymized and utilized for strain characterization under a Technical Service agreement and a Materials Transfer Agreement to the WHO AFRO Regional Reference Laboratory based at Sefako Makgatho Health Services University.
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare they have no competing interests.Prof AD Steele declaration:I am employed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which is working on rotavirus vaccine development and deployment. Understanding rotavirus strain diversity and evolution, including under possible vaccine pressure, is important. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation partially funded the African Enteric Viruses Genome Initiative (AEVGI) at the University of Free State. I was not involved in sample selection or the laboratory methodology used. I was engaged in the interpretation of the data and the drafting and approval of the manuscript as the senior corresponding author.