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Epidemiological studies on the VP7 serotype pre-valence of human rotaviruses in South Africa and the United Kingdom identified several strains which could not be serotyped as G1–G4 by monoclonal antibodies. Further analysis of these strains with a G8-specific monoclonal antibody and with probes for human rotaviruses confirmed them as G8 rota-viruses. These G8 strains exhibited a high degree of sequence identity when compared with each other and with other rotavirus G8 strains. Five South African strains were further characterized as VP6 subgroup I, but with a long RNA electropherotype, which is similar to the G8 strains previously isolated in Finland. In the UK strains, one was VP6 subgroup II with a long RNA electropherotype (similar to th