Prevalence of rotaviral diarrhoea in hospitalized children under five years in a tertiary care hospital of Eastern India

Dr. Kumari Seema; Dr. Manoj Kumar; Dr. Ashok Sharma; Dr. Amber Prasad

Volume : VII, Issue : IV, April - 2018

Prevalence of rotaviral diarrhoea in hospitalized children under five years in a tertiary care hospital of Eastern India

Dr. Kumari Seema, Dr. Manoj Kumar, Dr. Ashok Sharma, Dr. Amber Prasad

Abstract :

Introduction – Rotaviral diarrhoea is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in fewer than five children in India and accounts for about one third of diarrhoeal deaths. India has estimated annual burden of 2.0–3.4 billion cases of diarrhoea attributable to rotavirus. Recent estimates have shown that about 872,000 hospitalizations and 78,500 deaths occur due to rotavirus infections annually in India. Availability of efficacious rotavirus vaccines has warranted extensive epidemiological studies on rotavirus diarrhea. Methodology – We conducted a pilot study in our Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences which is a tertiary care hospital with the objective to estimate the prevalence of diarrhoea due to rotavirus among hospitalized children younger than 5 years of age.Classification of dehydration and management was done based on WHO guidelines for diarrhea management. The stool samples were collected as per exclusion and inclusion criteria and the test was carried out by ELISA kit by DRG Diagnostics, DRG Instruments GmbH, Germany. The test was performed by as per the manufacturer instructions. Results – The total number of 140 (27.13%) patients were positive for Rota virus. The maximum percentage of Rota virus infection was observed in 2013 with 33% of infectivity. The maximum prevalence of Rota virus infection was seen in among children aged between 0 – 12 months, while the year 2013 has maximum number of Rota virus prevalence. Discussion and Conclusion – The prevalence of rotavirus in neonates is high in India, ranging from 22% to 73%. In one study, rotavirus positivity rates varied greatly between different settings – diarrhea hospitalizations (20%), neonatal infections (35%), symptomatic and asymptomatic infections in the community (15.1% and 6.3% respectively). In our study, there was no statistically significant association of infection and time of the year. Our study had a few limitations. This was a hospital based study and hence the results are unlikely to be a true reflection of the disease burden in the community. Isolated rotavirus positivity in a given case of diarrhea may not necessarily rule out an alternative infection or co–infection.