The cumulative experience from three European countries suggest that rotavirus is an important cause of diarrhea in Central Europe, but significant local differences clearly demonstrate the need for obtaining national data as a reliable basis for control and prevention of the disease.

Aims-To examine the disease burden and epidemiology of community acquired rotavirus gastroenteritis in Austrian children treated in a paediatric practice. Methods-Aprospective, population based, multicentre study in four paediatric practices and two children's hospitals (Innsbruck and Leoben). Children < 48 months of age presenting with gastroenteritis during a six month period of rotavirus peak between December 1997 and May 1998 were included. Prospective testing of stool samples for rotavirus was performed using ELISA. Results-A total of 6969 children were enrolled; 171 (2.4%) had community acquired gastroenteritis. Of 144 children who could be included in further analysis, 49 (34%; median age 16.7 months) were rotavirus positive, and 95 (66%; median age 17.0 months) were rotavirus negative. Three of the rotavirus positive children (median age 14.6 months) were hospitalised. The severity of rotavirus positive gastroenteritis was significantly higher than that of rotavirus negative gastroenteritis. The incidence of community acquired gastroenteritis was 4.67 per 100 children per year, and of rotavirus positive gastroenteritis 1.33 per 100 children per year. Conclusion-Rotavirus is a relevant cause of community acquired gastroenteritis in children aged 4 years and younger treated by a paediatrician. The data can be used as a basis for developing strategies to prevent infection. (Arch Dis Child 2001;84:393-397)

This cost-of-illness study clearly demonstrates the great impact of RV acute gastroenteritis, mainly of nosocomially acquired infection, on medical health care costs in Austria. To cut costs efforts in disease prevention should be encouraged.

To assess the potential benefits of a reassortant tetravalent rotavirus vaccine, we investigated stool specimens from children in three different groups by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) for rotavirus G and P types: (i) children not hospitalized with community-acquired rotavirus-acute gastroenteritis (RV-AGE), (ii) children hospitalized for RV-AGE, and (iii) children with nosocomially acquired RV-AGE. From a total of 553 samples investigated, 335 were positive by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, of which 294 (88%) were positive by RT-PCR. Among the RT-PCR-positive samples, the predominant types were G1P[8] (84%), followed by G4P[8] (9%) and G3P[8] (2%). No differences between the three groups were observed, suggesting that community vaccination will diminish the most cost-relevant cases of hospitalizations and nosocomial infections.