Prevalence of rotavirus group A and associated genotypes detected in calves in Southern Highlands and Eastern Tanzania

Rotavirus group A (RVA) causes neonatal calves diarrhoea, causing massive economic losses in many countries due to deaths, treatment costs, and stunted growth. However, little is known about Tanzanian cattle's RVA burden genotypes. The prevalence genetic diversity of rotaviruses circulating cattle Southern Eastern Tanzania regions were investigated. total 272 faecal samples collected from (102 Mbeya, 89 Iringa, 81 Morogoro) tested for RVA. 30 (11.03%) the positive RVA, 7 (6.8%) 23 (28.39%) Morogoro, no found Iringa region. Using RT-PCR, 20 identified as G10 genotypes, while remaining 10 untypeable with primers used, whereas all P genotypes untypeable. To confirm RT-PCR results, representative chosen sequenced ABI 3130XL using a Big-dye Terminator kit Sanger dideoxy sequencing method.  Phylogenetic analysis nucleotide comparison revealed that was closely related clustered human strains neighboring Kenya, implying may have potential zoonotic transmission. When amino acid alignment compared bovine vaccine strain B223, our had various substitutions at antigenic epitopes, which resulted acquisition glycosylation sites suggesting has evade neutralization antibodies induced by vaccine. Our study provided preliminary data on Tanzania, paving way further research into rotavirus epidemiology risk factors associated Tanzania.   Key words: Cattle, groups A, genotype,