Abstract

ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND:
Rotavirus is the main cause of diarrhea in <5 years children causing high rates of hospitalizations and high mortality.
OBJECTIVE:
To estimate the burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis among less than five years children attending Al-Alwaiya Pediatric Hospital. To examin the validity of ELISA and Latex screening tests and to find out the concordane rates.
METHODS:
Across sectional study involved under five years(1-59months) children with acute gastroenteritis attending Al-Alwaiya Pediatric Hospital for the period from 1st of January 2008 to 31st of May 2008. The questionnaire used depended on WHO protocol of the National Rotavirus Gastroenteritis Surveillance Program. LATEX and ELISA tests were used for diagnosis. The period of study included two seasons: Winter and Spring.
RESULTS:
Stool samples of 342 children with acute gastroenteritis were investigated by general stool examination, stool culture, LATEX and ELISA tests for the presence of any parasite, bacteria and/ or rotavirus antigen respectively. Rotavirus was detected in 162(47.4%) of children with acute gastroenteritis either by LATEX, ELISA or both. Total concordance rate between the two tests was as high as 85.4%. Females were 61(37.7%) and males were 101(62.3%). Age group mostly affected was (>6-12) months which was (31.4%).
CONCLUSION:
Rotavirus cause 47.4% of acute gastroenteritis cases of the studied sample with no significant statistical difference between rotavirus and other causes of gastroenteritis regarding demographic features (except for gender, more in males), clinical features, and type of treatment and course of disease (except time of onset).Concordance rate between ELISA and Latex was found to be high confirming their validity.