Epidemiology of rotavirus infections in children less than 5 years of age: Germany, 2001-2008.
BACKGROUND
rotavirus (RV) infection is the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis in young children worldwide. In 2006, 2 live-attenuated RV-vaccines became available for use in infants ≤ 6 months of age. In Germany, a statutory notification system for RV infection has been in place since 2001 to monitor RV epidemiology. Our objective was to assess RV disease burden in German children <5 years of age.


METHODS
Detailed descriptive analysis of national RV surveillance data in children <5 years of age collected in Germany between January 2001 and December 2008.


RESULTS
between 2001 and 2008, 72% of all notified RV patients were children <5 years of age. The highest annual incidence (approximately, 200/10,000) was in children <2 years of age. In the <5 years age-group, approximately 50% of reported patients were hospitalized and of those, 9% acquired the infection nosocomially. Since 2004, a total of 8 children <5 years of age were reported as RV-associated deaths, and case fatality due to RV infection was <0.01/10,000.


CONCLUSIONS
the high incidence of RV infection and RV-associated hospitalization in children <5 years of age results in a high disease burden. Routine childhood RV vaccination would be a measure to reduce the burden in this age-group. However, cost-effectiveness analyses specific to the German setting should be considered in the decision-making process. An RV-surveillance system is in place in Germany that could potentially monitor the effect of an RV-vaccination program once implemented.
Koch
Judith
J
Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany. kochj@rki.de
Wiese-Posselt
Miriam
M
D002675:Child, Preschool; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D022243:Rotavirus Vaccines / Q000191:economics / Q000276:immunology
D022243:Rotavirus Vaccines