title: Survey of rotavirus infection in a Hungarian paediatric hospital. A short communication.
abstract: In anticipation of a future vaccination program against rotavirus disease, a longitudinal survey has been set up to evaluate the epidemiologic features of rotavirus infections. In this report hospitalisation data and serotyping results are compiled from an epidemiologic survey conducted in Baranya County, Hungary. It was found that rotavirus-associated hospitalisation constituted a major part of infectious gastroenteritis cases (range, 14.9% to 28.5%). A higher proportion of rotavirus-positive cases was recorded when the serotype of predominant strains changed from G1 (1996-1999) to G4 (1999-2000), however, due to the short time period it was not possible to demonstrate a firm association between serotype prevalence and rotavirus-associated hospitalisation rate. In the future, such studies might help to understand if serotype-specific immunity against rotavirus infection plays an important role at the population level and if (re-)emerging rotavirus strains make an impact on the annual disease burden.
authors.affiliation: Regional Laboratory of Virology, Baranya County Institute of State Public Health Service, Szabadság ut 7, H-7623 Pécs, Hungary.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bányai
authors.forename: Yvette
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sas
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Varga
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Szucs
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control