The Department of Virology of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) was designated as the National Rotavirus Laboratory by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2012. The National Rotavirus Laboratory (NRoL) is also recognized by the Department of Health as the National Reference Laboratory for Rotavirus and Other Enteric Viruses in 2015. As part of the WHO Rotavirus Laboratory Network, NRoL regularly submits samples for confirmation to the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MRCI), the network’s regional reference laboratory, receives proficiency panels as part of External Quality Assessment, and participates in the on-site reviews scheduled by the WHO.

The Rotavirus Laboratory is under the New Vaccine Preventable Disease Surveillance of the DOH Epidemiology Bureau as it supports the surveillance system that aims to estimate the burden of the rotavirus-associated disease among children less than 5 years of age with gastroenteritis. The NRoL also performs genetic characterization of currently circulating rotavirus strains.

Supervisor: Joseph M. Bonifacio, RMT
Technical Group Members:
C. Eures Iyar G. Lazaro, RMT
Jonathan Jason R. David, RMT