Epidemiological Profile of Rotavirus Infection in the Republic of Korea: Results from Prospective Surveillance in the Jeongeub District, 1 July 2002 through 30 June 2004

Abstract

To facilitate future decisions regarding the usefulness of rotavirus vaccines in the Republic of Korea, active surveillance was conducted in a network of clinics, emergency departments, and hospitals serving Jeongeub District, Korea. Children with diarrhea underwent standard clinical evaluations, and stool specimens were collected to test for the presence of rotavirus. Parents were interviewed to collect demographic and family information. From 1 July 2002 through 30 June 2004, a total of 4106 children, representing 1 (50%) of every 2 children <5 years old in the study population, were evaluated for rotavirus diarrhea. Of the 2232 stool specimens obtained throughout the year, 460 (20.6%) were rotavirus positive; however, the monthly prevalence of rotavirus infection peaked at 49.5% in February 2004. Of the 460 rotavirus-positive stool specimens, 366 were obtained from children who visited outpatient clinics, and 94 were obtained from children who were hospitalized. By extrapolating the proportion of rotavirus-positive patients to all children with diarrhea in the surveillance system, we calculate that 882 children in Jeongeub District had rotavirus infection (which would predict that there would be 702 associated clinic visits and 180 hospitalizations). Genotyping of rotavirus strains showed that 39% of strains were type G9P[8], 24% were type G1P[8], 17% were type G3P[8], and 13% were type G2P[4]. The incidence of rotavirus diarrhea peaked at age 13-24 months, and 94% of cases occurred during the first 3 years of life. The annual incidence of all rotavirus disease-associated outcomes was 56.9 cases/1000 children <5 years old (95% confidence interval [CI], 51.9-62.2 cases/1000 children <5 years old). The incidence of rotavirus disease-associated hospitalizations was 11.6 cases/1000 children <5 years old (95% CI, 9.5-14.2 cases/1000 children <5 years old). In Korea, diarrhea is common during childhood, and the incidence of diarrhea due to rotavirus infection suggests that improved programs for the prevention and control of both rotavirus diarrhea and diarrhea due to other causes are needed.

Immunogenicity, reactogenicity and safety of a human rotavirus vaccine (RIX4414) in Korean infants: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase IV study

“…Jung soo Kim, 1 chong-Woo Bae, 2 Kyung-Yil Lee, 3 Moon sung park, 4 Young Youn choi, 5 Kwang-Nam Kim, 6 Jong Duck Kim,7 Won-soon park, 8 Jong-Beom sin, 9 ellen ai-Rhan Kim, 10 sang-Geel Lee, 11 chun soo Kim,12 sung-Ho cha, 13 Young Jin Hong, 14, * son-Moon shin, 15 Gyu-Hong shim, 16 Kyong Min choi,…”

Enteric bacteria isolated from acute diarrheal patients in the Republic of Korea between the year 2004 and 2006

“…Infant mortality in the Republic of Korea (ROK) is also highly correlated with diarrheal disease (Korean Ministry of Health and Society Affairs, 1984;Kim et al, 1989;Kim et al, 2005). Recently, the information on the surveillance was reported for identification of bacteria related to intestinal infectious diseases among the patients that visited hospitals in due to diarrhea in the ROK in the year of 2003 (Cho et al, 2006).…”

Viral etiology and incidence associated with acute gastroenteritis in a 5-year survey in Gyeonggi province, South Korea

“…4 Although there have been reports on other individual viral pathogens causing gastroenteritis in South Korea, most survey reports were mainly focused on rotavirus. [5][6][7] The present study monitored the incidence and etiology of acute viral gastroenteritis, and related this to patient age and season. This epidemiologic survey was undertaken from January 2001 to * Corresponding author.…”