FREQUENCY OF ROTAVIRUS INFECTION IN CHILDREN WITH ACUTE DIARRHEA

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of rotavirus infection in children admitted to the Military Hospital Rawalpindi with acute watery diarrhea.
Study Design: Descriptive study
Place and duration of study: Department of Pediatrics Military Hospital Rawalpindi, in collaboration with Virology department of Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi from January to June 2007.
Patients and Methods: a total of 200 patients of acute watery diarrhea in age group 3 months to 5 years were included. After taking informed consent, stool samples were taken and tested for rotavirus (group A) antigen by Latex Agglutination. Results were entered in pre-designed proformas.
Results: Out of 200 patients with acute watery diarrhea ninety eight (49%) were male and 102 (51%) were female with mean age of 14.8 months (SD ± 9.1). Rotavirus serology was positive in 62 patients (31%). Among Rotavirus positive, 35 patients were male (56.5%) and 27 were female (43.5%) with mean age of 17.2 months (SD ± 8.8). The peak age was between 13-24 months. Among rotavirus positive patients 60% had some dehydration while 40% had severe dehydration as compared to 55% and 19% respectively in patients negative for rotavirus (p-value=<0.05). Average number of loose stools was 10 stools per day (SD + 9.2) in rotavirus positive cases as compared to 8 per day (SD + 8.5) in negative cases (p-value=<0.05). More than 96% patients with rotavirus presented with vomiting as compared to 62% patients who were negative for rotavirus. Fever was present in more than 93% of the patient with rotavirus disease while only 33% patients were febrile in the rotavirus negative group (p-value=<0.05).
Conclusion: Rotavirus is an important cause of acute watery diarrhea resulting in severe diarrhea and vomiting leading to subsequent dehydration. As this study estimated only burden of Group A rotavirus, overall burden of all serotypes is expected to be much more.