Publisher Summary Human group A rotaviruses were first identified by Bishop et al. in 1973.
In the ensuing 15 years, a great deal was learned about these important pathogens.
Rotaviruses are members of the Reoviridae family. They are icosahedral viruses with two
concentric capsid layers and a diameter of approximately 75 nm. The outer capsid of the
virus contains at least two primary gene products, VP4 and VP7, the products of genes 4 and
8 or 9, respectively. The chapter takes into account the recently revised nomenclature for …