[Rotavirus: clinical and epidemiological study in hospitalized children under two years of age]

Rotavirus (RV) remains as the leading cause of acute diarrheal disease in early infancy; nevertheless, there are few epidemiological studies in our geographical area. In order to better understand the clinical epidemiology of RV, we have carried out a revision of acute diarrheal illnesses in the area of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) in children younger than 2 years of age who needed hospitalization during a 12 month period.

In 155 children with suspected gastroenteritis, 339 stool samples were collected and separated into two groups depending upon the presence or not of RV antigen.

In the group of RV-positive stool patients, the occurrence of vomiting, fever, need of intravenous fluid rehydration (p = 0.01), respiratory symptoms (p < 0.01), the incidence during winter, as well as the development of disaccharidase depression (p < 0.001), were more frequent as compared with the group of children of similar age who did not present RV in faeces. There was no difference between the two groups regarding the presence of other potential enteropathogen agents (p > 0.05). The incidence of RV-positive faeces per 100 hospitalized infants/year was 10.5 and that of infants with RV diarrhea who needed hospitalization was 5.5%/ year.

There was no mortality related with gastroenteritis, but RV-infection remains an important cause of morbidity and socioeconomic burden. Nosocomially acquired hospital infections add to morbidity and the cost of hospitalization.