Rotavirus infection among childhood diarrhea in Basrah

ABSTRACT

During a prospective two years study, 747 faecal samples of infants and young children with acute gastroenteritis and 160 non-diarrhoeal control were collected. Rotavirus was detected significantly more often in those with gastroenteritis 278/746 [37.3%] than those with other illnesses 6/160 [3.8%]. Rotavirus as the only pathogen was detected in 66% of the positives, while it was found to be mixed with one or more pathogens in 36%. The infection was more common among children from rural areas [43%] than from urban areas [28.3%]. The prevalence rate of rotavirus infection was lower in infants who were breast-fed [15.4%] than in bottle-fed [58.8%] or those who were combined-fed [41.4%]. The prevalence of rotavirus recovery was lower among children of families who practiced boiling of water [18.2%], compared to other groups using river or marches water which were occasionally boiled [24.3%] or unboiled [66.4%]. The seasonal pattern of rotavirus shedding was found to be maximum during the winter season