Epidemiological and Clinical Features of Rotavirus Associated Acute Infantile Diarrhoea in Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Rotavirus was looked for in stool specimens from 200 randomly chosen infants and children aged 1-24 months presenting with acute diarrhoea of not more than 5 days duration at the Bab El-Sha'reya University Hospital during a 12-month period (January-December 1986). Forty per cent of cases were positive for rotavirus by the ELISA technique. Considering the seasonal pattern, during the hot months May to August, the monthly percentage of rotavirus positive cases ranged from 24 to 32 per cent while during the rest of the year, the range was from 37 to 60 per cent. There was no statistically significant difference between the rotavirus positive and negative cases as regards mean age in months (9.5 +/- 5.1 and 9.2 +/- 5.5, respectively), type of feeding or nutritional status. However, rotavirus positive cases were significantly more likely to present earlier, to have watery stools, to vomit or even to have vomiting before the onset of diarrhoea and to have respiratory symptoms. On the other hand, the means of dehydration score, rectal temperature and serum Na+ were not significantly different between the two groups.

RotavirusDiarrhea among Children in Taiz, Yemen: Prevalence—Risk Factors and Detection of Genotypes

“…In addition, Rotavirus infection was reported in the cold, dry season in Tunisia [30]. This is also similar to the pattern seen in some African countries where Rotavirus infection had been recorded, such as Morocco [31, 32], Algeria [33], and Egypt [34], where epidemiological studies showed the same seasonal occurrence. This agreed with the result in this study which found that its peak was in the summer.…”

Epidemiological features of rotavirus infection among hospitalized children with gastroenteristis in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

“…Numerous studies in tropical countries, such as Venezuela [de Torres et al, 1978] and Ecuador [Suzuki et al, 1981], also found no seasonal pattern of rotavirus infection, whereas rotavirus infection has been reported in dry seasons in Costa Rica [Hieber et al, 1978], India [Maiya et al, 1977], and Bangladesh [Black et al, 1980]. This is also similar to other North African countries such as Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt where rotavirus infection was found to occur predominantly in the dry season [Puel et al, 1982;Tazi-lakhsassi, 1988;Tchambaz et al, 1989;el-Mougi et al, 1989;Trabelsi et al, 2000]. The transmission of any infectious disease is necessarily complex and multifactorial, involving both host and environmental factors.…”

The Epidemiology of Rotavirus Diarrhea in Countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

“…The yearly median is marked, and shaded areas indicate peaks 13 months. Data in a are from [32], in b are from [27], in c are from [33], in d are from [30], in e are from [65], in f are from [20], and in g are from [54]. categories, and the age distribution of patients with rotavirus infection.…”