Rotavirus G9 is the principal cause of acute diarrhea in hospitalized children under five years of age

Objectives: analyze the etiological profile of acute diarrhea in hospitalized children under five years of age and the distribution of the rotavirus serotypes in our setting. Methods: perspective, observational, descriptive study conducted in all the children from one month to five years of age hospitalized due to acute diarrhea in the Pediatrics Department of the Hospital de Leon, between January 15 and December 31, 2005. In all the cases, stool culture was made for enteropathogenic bacteria and the virus study was done in stools by immunochromatography for rotavirus and adrenovirus and enzyme immunoassay was done for astro-virus and subsequently by real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for rotavirus, analyzing the G genotypes in the latter. An identical study was conducted in the cases of nosocomial diarrhea. Results: in the period studied, there were a total of 1037 hospital admissions (neonatal age being excluded). A total of 674 (65%) of them were under five years of age. One hundred six children were included in the study: 90 admitted for community acute diarrhea (13.3% of those admitted in this age group), and 16 cases of nosocomial diarrhea. In the first group, a bacterial pathogen was isolated in 13.3% ( Campylobacter and Salmonella equally). In 43.3%, a virus (rotavirus 87.1%, astrovirus 17.9%, and adenovirus 5.1%) was isolated with some cases of coinfection. Thus, rotavirus was isolated in 37.7% of those admitted due to community diarrhea. The only germ isolated in nosocomial diarrhea was rotavirus in 37.5%. The type G of 26 rotavirus strains was analyzed: G9 57.7%, G1 15.4%, G2 11.5%, G3 11.5%, G4 0, and G9+G3 3.8%. Conclusions: rotavirus is the most frequent cause of acute diarrhea in hospitalized children under five years of age, it being responsible for more than one third of the cases of both community and nosocomial diarrhea. More than half of the rotaviruses isolated had type G9.