Prevalence of rotavirus infection in children below two years presenting with diarrhea.
BACKGROUND
Rotavirus is a common cause of diarrhea in children. There is a need for data on prevalence of rotavirus diarrhea especially in our setting. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of rotavirus infection in children upto two years presenting with diarrhea and to ascertain factors associated with rotavirus infection in them.


METHODS
A cross sectional observational study was carried out to determine the prevalence of rotavirus infection amongst children less than 2 years presenting with diarrhea. The clinical profile of the children was analyzed along with detection of rotavirus antigen in stool.


RESULTS
A total of 250 children with diarrhea were included in the study. The Male: Female ratio was 0.97:1. We found 24% children presenting with diarrhea to be positive for rotavirus antigen. 78.3% of children with rotaviral diarrhea were in the age group of 6-15 months. There was a significant association between type of feeding and rotavirus diarrhea with reduced prevalence while on exclusive breast-feeding. Though only 10.4% of children with rotavirus diarrhea had severe dehydration, 61.5% of children with severe dehydration were positive for rotavirus.


CONCLUSIONS
Rotavirus diarrhea caused substantial morbidity in our study population. The rotavirus positivity in these children was 24% and there was a significant association of rotavirus infection with type of feeding and severity of dehydration.
Classified Specialist (Pediatrics), Command Hospital (Air Force), Bangalore, India.
B M
BM
John
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune 411040, India.
Amit
A
Devgan
Graded Specialist (Pediatrics), 5 Air Force Hospital, C/o 99 APO, India.
Barnali
B
Mitra
Children; Diarrhea; Prevalence; Rotavirus