Evaluation of the prevalence of Rotavirus in children under 5 years with acute diarrhea in Ahvaz, 2014

The mortality of the Rotavirus diarrhea still remains a major problem among developing countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of rotavirus among children below 5 years with acute diarrhea who admitted in reference one of Hospitals (Hospital Abuzar) is located in Ahvaz.
The study was conducted as a cross-sectional survey on 200 fecal samples taken from children under 5 years of age with gastroenteritis, referred to Abuzar hospital in Ahwaz. Sampling started in January 2014 and continued until September 2014. Samples were transported to the laboratory in the Department of Virology, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Science and were tested. The latex agglutination test was performed on samples and the RT-PCR was tested for accurate detection of rotavirus. Data was analyzed using SPSS software.
Of the 200 samples collected, latex agglutination test and RT-PCR confirmed the presence of rotavirus in 41% and 21% of cases, respectively. Positive samples were equally in boys and girls. The highest incidence was observed in children under 2 years of age (88.1%) and in the age range of 6-8 months (28.57%). Diarrhea, vomiting and fever were the most common symptom of the disease and powdered milk consumption was observed in 50% of the positive samples. Also, the highest and the lowest number of positive samples were reported in February-March 2014 and August- September 2014, respectively.
According to the high percentage of Rotavirus infection in different region of Iran, continuous monitoring of the amount of Rotavirus gastroenteritis is recommended in healthcare centres.