ABSTRACT
To determine the frequency of rotavirus infection in children admitted to the Military Hospital Rawalpindi with acute watery diarrhea. Descriptive study. Department of Pediatrics Military Hospital Rawalpindi, in collaboration with Virology department of Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi from January to June 2007. A total of 200 patients of acute watery diarrhea in age group 3 months to 5 years were included. After taking informed consent, stool samples were taken and tested for rotavirus [group A] antigen by Latex Agglutination. Results were entered in pre-designed proformas. Out of 200 patients with acute watery diarrhea ninety eight [49%] were male and 102 [51%] were female with mean age of 14.8 months [SD +/- 9.1]. Rotavirus serology was positive in 62 patients [31%]. Among Rotavirus positive, 35 patients were male [56.5%] and 27 were female [43.5%] with mean age of 17.2 months [SD +/- 8.8]. The peak age was between 13-24 months. Among rotavirus positive patients 60% had some dehydration while 40% had severe dehydration as compared to 55% and 19% respectively in patients negative for rotavirus [p-value=<0.05]. Average number of loose stools was 10 stools per day [SD + 9.2] in rotavirus positive cases as compared to 8 per day [SD + 8.5] in negative cases [p-value=<0.05]. More than 96% patients with rotavirus presented with vomiting as compared to 62% patients who were negative for rotavirus. Fever was present in more than 93% of the patient with rotavirus disease while only 33% patients were febrile in the rotavirus negative group [p-value=<0.05]. Rotavirus is an important cause of acute watery diarrhea resulting in server diarrhea and vomiting leading to subsequent dehydration. As this study estimated only burden of Group A rotavirus, overall burden of all serotypes is expected to be much more