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Background and Aim; Globally, the deaths due to diarrhea are one among the major leading causes of mortality in children below five years of age. Among the various organisms causing diarrhea, viruses are the most common causative agent. Adenovirus, Rotavirus and Astrovirus are few viruses which cause diarrhea. Almost 66.7% of diarrheal deaths in children below five years of age are caused by Rotavirus. To estimate the prevalence of Rotavirus infection in children below five years of age suffering from acute gastroenteritis.Material and methods: A cross sectional study was conducted for a period of two months for a sample size of 60 at Apollo general hospital, Hyderabad. Rapid ICT test was done for the identification of Rotavirus infection taking diarrheal samples and detecting VP6 antigen present in the middle layer of the capsid of rotavirus which is responsible for acute gastroenteritis in children below five years of age. |
Result: Out of 60 patients below five years of age suffering from acute gastroenteritis, 11 isolates were positive. By this study we can conclude that most of the acute gastroenteritis cases in children below five years of age are rotavirus infection and without the evidence of causative organism, the administration of anti bacterial agents leads to antibiotic resistance. This study has provided evidence that, majority of the gastroenteritis cases are caused by rotavirus and the need for the modification of treatment regimen is a must.
Conclusion; In our study the prevalence of Rotavirus infection in children suffering from acute gastroenteritis below five years of age is 18.3%. The test performed to estimate the prevalence of Rotavirus infection is Immunochromatographic test which is a rapid diagnostic test
