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An unusual human rotavirus strain B219 was detected in a stool specimen from a 65-year old patient with diarrhea in Bangladesh during April 2002. Cloning and sequence analysis of five genes of the B219 strain indicated that this virus is genetically closely related to the ADRV-N strain, which caused an adult diarrhea outbreak in China, but distinct from groups A, B, and C rotaviruses known to cause diarrheal diseases in humans. Accordingly, rotavirus strains B219 and ADRV-N were considered to belong to a novel group of human rotavirus, and the ADRV-N-like novel human rotaviruses were suggested to be distributed to a geographically wider area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From July 2015 to December 2016, the presence of rickettsial pathogens was investigated for 414 patients with unknown fever in eight places in all the divisions of Bangladesh. Rickettsia felis was identified in blood samples from all the regions (overall detection rate, 19.6%), suggesting nationwide prevalence of R. felis infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Bangladesh, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been highly prevalent during late 2020, with nearly 500 000 confirmed cases. In the present study, the spike (S) protein of severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) circulating in Bangladesh was genetically investigated to elucidate the diversity of mutations and their prevalence. The nucleotide sequence of the S protein gene was determined for 15 SARS-CoV-2 samples collected from eight divisions in Bangladesh, and analysed for mutations compared with the reference strain (hCoV-19/Wuhan/WIV04/2019). All the SARS-CoV-2 S genes were assigned to B.1 lineage in G clade, and individual S proteins had 1–25 mutations causing amino acid substitution/deletion. A total of 133 mutations were detected in 15 samples, with D614G being present in all the samples; 53 were novel mutations as of January 2021. On the receptor-binding domain, 21 substitutions including ten novel mutations were identified. Other novel mutations were located on the N-terminal domain (S1 subunit) and dispersed sites in the S2 subunit, including two substitutions that remove potential N-glycosylation sites. A P681R substitution adjacent to the furin cleavage site was detected in one sample. All the mutations detected were located on positions that are functionally linked to host transition, antigenic drift, host surface receptor binding or antibody recognition sites, and viral oligomerization interfaces, which presumably related to viral transmission and pathogenic capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leptospira was detected in 48.9% of blood samples from 182 febrile patients in north-central Bangladesh in 2019. Most Leptospira were classified as L. wolffii (93%) on the basis of phylogenetic analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA genes, while others were assigned to L. borgpetersenii and L. meyeri. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dengue virus (DENV) that caused an outbreak in Dhaka, Bangladesh during 2018 was analysed phylogenetically. DENV samples were classified into type 2-Cosmopolitan genotype (54%) and type 3-genotype I (46%), indicating co-circulation of two DENV types and resurgence of type 3 associated with genotype replacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predominance of genotype G3P[8] rotavirus was revealed for children and adults with diarrhoea in north-central Bangladesh for a 1-year period from September 2018. The G3P[8] rotaviruses were phylogenetically close to recent Indian strains, having antigenic variation in VP7 and VP4 compared with old Bangladeshi strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scrub typhus is a mite-borne rickettsial disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi, which is endemic in Asia Pacific region. In this study, infection rate and molecular epidemiologic traits of O. tsutsugamushi was investigated in Mymensingh, located in north-central Bangladesh. Among the blood samples from 453 febrile patients who visited Mymensingh medical college hospital in 2018, the 47 kDa protein gene of O. tsutsugamushi was detected in 78 samples (17.2%) by nested PCR. Phylogenetic analysis of the O. tsutsugamushi 56 kDa protein gene (18 samples) revealed a predominance of Karp-related genotype (89%), while the remaining belonged to Gilliam genotype. Samples of the Karp-related genotype mostly clustered with those of China, Taiwan, Thailand and India, etc., in emergent subgroups clades 2 and 4, which were distinct from clade 1, including prototype Karp strains. Among the 18 samples, three variable domains (VD) of 56 kDa type-specific antigen had different types of sequence diversity; VDI contained two or three repeats of eight amino acid units, while VDII and VDIII had amino acid substitution, deletion or insertion. The present study documented a potentially high prevalence of genetically diverse O. tsutsugamushi in north-central Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leptospiral 16S rRNA genes were detected in 13 blood samples from 74 febrile patients in north-central Bangladesh, and their sequences phylogenetically clustered with those of Leptospira interrogans or Leptospira wolffii. Genetic diversity in O-antigen polymerase (wzy) was found in an L. interrogans sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]