Rotavirus infection in under-five children in Jimma Hospital, Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Rotavirus is the leading etiological agent among the causes of acute diarrhea in infants and young children. However, there is no attempt to indicate its significance in other regions of Ethiopia, out of the capital, Addis Ababa.


Objective: This study is aimed at revealing the prevalence of rotavirus infection among infants and young children in Jimma Hospital.


Method: A cross-sectional study was designed and a total of 154 children less than 5 years of age, who had acute diarrhea were studied from January 14 to February 19, 2002 at Jimma Hospital, pediatrics out patient department.


Result: Rotavirus was detected in 26.6 % (41/154) of fecal specimens collected from children of < 5 years of age with acute diarrhea, tested by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay. Of all cases of rotavirus, 90.2% (37/41) occurred in children < 2 years of age. The highest rate of Rotavirus Antigen detection was observed among the 7 to 12 months of age group (34%). Children infected with rotavirus were more likely to have watery stool (90.2% Vs 43.4%), vomiting (31.7% Vs 15.9%) and some (moderate) dehydration (31.7% Vs 12.4%) with P<0.05 than without rotavirus infection. No sociodemographic factors were found to be significantly associated with rotavirus infection among the studied subjects.


Conclusion: Rotavirus has been observed as the cause of acute diarrhea among children of < 5 years of age. To our knowledge, this is the first report on prevalence of rotavirus infection among children of Jimma, Southwest, Ethiopia. Therefore, based on this preliminary data further work is needed for a better understanding of rotavirus diarrhea and its impact among children of the region.


[Ethiop.J.Health Dev. 2004;18(1):19-24]