Viral diarrhea in children: Time to start rapid diagnosis and vaccination

Abstract

Background: Acute diarrheal diseases are the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in children under 5 years of age throughout the world. This study was done to find out the incidence of rotavirus and adenovirus infection in children below 5 years of age. Materials and Methods: A total of 105 stool samples were collected from hospitalized children below 5 years of age with diarrhea from a private children hospital and tested for rotavirus and adenovirus antigen detection by rapid immunochromatography (RICT). Results: Of the 105 patients tested, 44 (42%) were positive for rotavirus, and two (2%) were positive for adenovirus by RICT. None of the children were positive for both rotavirus and adenovirus. Out of 105 children, only two had received rotavirus vaccine. They were negative for both rotavirus and adenovirus. Conclusion: The rotavirus vaccine can be included in the Universal Immunization Programme. Although the sensitivity and specificity of RICT were reported as 75% and 95% only, it is useful to detect viral diarrhea at the point of care for effective management and containment of diarrheal outbreaks at field level.

Keywords

• Acute diarrheal diseases
• adenovirus
• antigen
• rapid immunochromatography
• rotavirus