Studies On Rotavirus Infection In Infantile Diarrhea :

Mohamed Diaa Abd Elfattah Mohamed

Diarrhea is one of the most common disease in infants especially indeveloping countries. It is still the most common cause of morbidity and mortalityin infants and early childhood.For this reason, this work aimed to determine the incidence of rotavirusinfection by using latex agglutination test, ELISA, and indirect immunofluorescenttechnique for detection of the most sensitive and reliable method for diagnosis ofrotavirus.This work was done on stool specimens of 350 infants and children under2 years of age with acute diarrhea and with or without dehydration, they were220 males and 130 females. The control group (54 infants) was normal infants,they were 36 males and 18 females, all the studied groups were from Out-PatientClinics and Rehydration Centers of Benha and Zagazig University Hospitals from December 1991 through November 1992Rotavirus antigen was detected in stools by latex agglutination method in77(22%) out of 350 cases and in 4 (7.4%) of 54 control subjects and the differencewas statistically significant (P0.05), but P value for male cases and control group was significant(P>0.05).The seasonal incidence of rotavirus gastroenteritis in diarrheal cases had the highest peak during winter season with the incidence of 45 (50.6%), while the incidence of infection decreased in summer 17 (19.1%), and P value was highly significant (P<0.001).Rotavirus infection was most common in rural areas (27.8%) than urban(22%), but P value was not significant (p>0.05). Concerning the degree ofdehydration and their association with rotavirus infection, was detected, therotavirus was most commonly associatedwith moderate dehydration (9”/0). It was concluded that diagnosis of rotavirus antigen in diarrheal stoolgastroenteritis can be achieved by the indirect immunofluorescent afterperforming tissue culture of the rotavirus which is the most sensitive method compared with latex agglutinationand ELISAmethod, but it is difficult to performas a screening method as it needs more time and experience and it is expensive.On the other hand ELISA and latex agglutination methods are lessexpensive, simple and do not need experienced personel for their use. They are also useful in screening a large number of cases in one sitting.Encouragement must be directed to breast feeding more and more amongEgyptian mothers because it is the best prophylactic and cheap measure againstrotavirus gastroenteritis in particular and other infectious diarrhea in general.