BACKGROUND Diarrhoeal diseases are significant public health problems that lead to morbidity and mortality of infants and children particularly in developing countries and developed countries too. Rotavirus is the most important virus responsible for severe diarrhoea among young children. India being a developing country, the incidence of diarrhoeal diseases is high. In this part of Andhra Pradesh, low socioeconomic status, bad feeding, and child-rearing practices along with malnutrition contribute to the high morbidity and mortality due to diarrhoeal disease caused by rotavirus infection. METHODS This cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted from January 2018 to December 2018 in the Department of Paediatrics, Old Government Hospital, Siddhartha Medical College, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh after obtaining ethical clearance from Ethical and Research Committee of our institute. One hundred (100) children, fulfilling the selection criteria who were admitted in the three paediatric wards were the subjects of study. RESULTS In this present study, the incidence of rotavirus infection was high in children aged ≤ 12 months and least in children between the age group of 25 to 36 months. In our study, we found that majority of cases with rotavirus infection occurred from September to February (60 %). Reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test done for the 24-enzyme linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA) test negative samples of this study group. Out of 24 ELISA negative samples, PCR detects 4 samples as positive as PCR test is more sensitive than ELISA. CONCLUSIONS Rotavirus diarrhoea is the most common cause of severe gastroenteritis (GE) in children below five years of age in most regions of India. In this part of Andhra Pradesh, the low socioeconomic status, bad feeding, and child-rearing practices along with malnutrition contribute to the high morbidity and mortality due to diarrhoeal disease caused by rotavirus infection. This data on rotavirus disease burden may likely support evidence-based decisions regarding any further intervention. KEYWORDS Rotavirus, Diarrhoea, Diarrhoeal Diseases, Gastroenteritis (GE) Children, RT-PCR
