Abstract
BackgroundRotavirus gastroenteritis is a major public health problem in Nepal. This study was conducted to obtain information associated with Rotavirus gastroenteritis and to perform genotyping of Rotavirus A.MethodsHospital based cross sectional study was conducted from January to December 2017 among children less than 5 years of age attending Kanti Children’s Hospital and Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Rotavirus A antigen detection was performed by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) using ProSpecT Rotavirus Microplate Assay. Rotavirus A positive strains were further confirmed by genotyping using Reverse-Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR).ResultsA total of 1074 stool samples were collected, of them 770 were hospitalized, and 304 were non-hospitalized cases. Rotavirus A infection was found in 28% of children with infection rate higher in hospitalized (34%) than in non-hospitalized (14%) children. Rotavirus A detection was higher in male (31%) than in female (24%), but this was statistically not significant (p > 0.05). Rotavirus A positivity was higher in children of age group 0–23 months, this result was statistically not significant (p > 0.05) with higher frequency found in the months of November, December, January, February and March (p < 0.05). On the basis of molecular analysis of Rotavirus A genotyping, G12P[6] (46.39%) was found to be the predominant followed by G1P[8] (35.05%), G3P[8] (7.21%) and G1P[6] (5.15%) while 4.12% was mixed infection and 1.03% was partially typed (p < 0.05).ConclusionRotavirus A infection occurred throughout the year, but the infection was significantly higher during the month of March. The higher frequency of rotavirus infection was observed among children of age group 0–23 months; however this was not found to be statistically significant. In this study, G12P[6] is predominant genotype observed. The results of genotyping are essential for the introduction of Rotavirus vaccine in Nepal.
Highlights
Rotavirus gastroenteritis is a major public health problem in Nepal
Stool samples were requested from the children under 5 years of age visiting Kanti Children’s Hospital and Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Kathmandu, with acute diarrhoea in the period between January to December 2017 and whose parents/guardians provided consent to participate in the study
A total of 1074 stool samples examined for Rotavirus A using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), 302/1074 (28%) samples were found Rotavirus A positive with infection rate being higher in hospitalized 261/770 (34%) than in non-hospitalized 41/304 (14%) children, this observation was statistically significant (p < 0.05)
Summary
Rotavirus gastroenteritis is a major public health problem in Nepal. This study was conducted to obtain information associated with Rotavirus gastroenteritis and to perform genotyping of Rotavirus A. Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is an extremely common illness among infants and children worldwide [1]. It is an inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract characterized by diarrhea and symptoms of gastric irritation (e.g nausea, vomiting, and epigastric pain) caused by microbial agents [2, 3]. Diarrhea can be caused by a wide range of virus, bacteria and parasites. In both developed and developing countries, viruses are the leading cause of acute diarrhea [6]. Rotavirus is a major cause of AGE which results in nearly 200,000 deaths annually in children younger than 5 years [7, 8]. By the age of five years, nearly every child has been infected at least once and reinfection is mild [9]
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