Two-Year Prevalence of Rotavirus Among Under-Five Children Admitted with Acute Gastroenteritis in Andhra Pradesh, India

Objective To estimate the burden of rotavirus diarrhea among under-five children admitted with acute gastroenteritis and to identify genotypes of rotavirus among positive rotavirus cases. Methods This is a cross-sectional study conducted from August 2017 to July 2019 in Government General Hospital and 5 private pediatric nursing homes (Padma Children’s Hospital, Mother and Child Hospital, Chandamama Children’s Hospital, Vennela Hospital) in Kakinada. Children admitted to the pediatric ward with acute gastroenteritis were included in this study. Stool samples were collected from all these children and tested for rotavirus by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the positive samples were genotyped using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Results Rotavirus diarrhea was seen in 7.4% of children among all diarrhea admissions. The mean age of the rotavirus-positive children was 13.1 ± 10 mo. The most common genotype in 2017 was G3P[8], and that in 2018 and 2019 was the mixed genotype. Conclusion In this study, mixed genotype was found to be most common.