[Molecular epidemiology of rotavirus among children under 5 years old hospitalized for diarrhea in China].
OBJECTIVE
To study molecular epidemiology of Rotavirus among children under 5 years of age in china.


METHODS
Stool specimens were collected from 4047 inpatients under 5 years of age with diarrhea in our 9 hospital-based surveillance sites from January 2006 to December 2007 following the WHO Rotavirus surveillance protocol. Rotavirus were detected by ELISA, Further strain characterization of rotavirus was carried out with RT-PCR.


RESULTS
A total of 4047 stool samples were collected and 3862 of total stools were tested among which 1700 was positive. The Rotavirus positive rate is 44.0%. A peak admission of rotavirus diarrhea was observed from November to next January. More than 95.4% of viral diarrhea patients occurred in their first 2 years. The incidence rates of rotavirus diarrhea were highest in 12-17 months of age. The most common rotavirus strain was P[8]G3(58.3%); followed by P[8] G1(22.1%), P[4]G1 (3.0%), P[8]G9 (2.4%). G4 was not detected in this study. The four common strains were 80.8% in the world.


CONCLUSIONS
Rotavirus diarrhea was an important infectious disease among children under 5 years of age in China. Safe and effective rotavirus vaccines for the prevention of rotavirus diarrhea and reduction of treatment costs are of significant importance to China.
Yang
Su-Hu
SH
Department for Epidemiology, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
Wang
Hong
H
Liu
Na
N
Zhang
Qing
Q
Cui
Shu-Xian
SX
Li
Dan-Di
DD
Jin
Miao
M
Chen
Qing
Q
Duan
Zhao-Jun
ZJ
D002673:Child, Hospitalized; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology; D012621:Seasons