title: Incidence and risk factors of paediatric rotavirus diarrhoea in northern Ghana.
abstract: We measured the type-specific incidence of paediatric rotavirus diarrhoea in an area of northern Ghana. Over 1 year, diarrhoea 1717 episodes were identified, of which 677 (39%) were positive for rotavirus. Risk factors for rotavirus infection included old age, wasting, high Vesikari score and the episode occurring in the dry season. Rotavirus-positive episodes tended to be more acute, causing vomiting and greater dehydration, and were more likely to require hospitalization. The incidence was 0.089 episodes per person-year for all diarrhoea, and 0.035 for rotavirus diarrhoea. The observed incidence decreased markedly with distance from the nearest health centre, suggesting a large unobserved burden. G2P[6], G3P[4] and G9P[8] made up more than half the genotypes detected, but the remainder were diverse. There is a large burden of rotavirus diarrhoea, but the effectiveness of future vaccines could be diluted by the high polymorphism of the virus, and the difficulty of reaching remote populations.
authors.affiliation: Navrongo Health Research Centre, Navrongo, Ghana. fbinka@africaonline.com.gh
authors.forename: Fred N
authors.initials: FN
authors.lastname: Binka
authors.forename: Francis K
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Anto
authors.forename: Abraham R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Oduro
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Awini
authors.forename: Alex K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Nazzar
authors.forename: George E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Armah
authors.forename: Richard H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Asmah
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: Felicity
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cutts
authors.forename: Neal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.forename: Miren
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iturriza-Gómara
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D005869:Ghana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012307:Risk Factors; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000235:genetics; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics