Rotavirus diarrhoea in Thai infants and children

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Abstract
One hundred and three children aged from 1 month to 5 years were assessed for human rotavirus (HRV) infection over a 5-week period at the Children's Hospital, Bangkok. HRV was present in 18% and adenovirus in 10.7% of the children with gastro-enteritis. None of the controls excreted HRV. Vomiting and dehydration were significantly associated with HRV diarrhoea. A comparison of the reliability of the detection methods showed the following sensitivities: RNA-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) 90%, electron microscopy (EM) 84% and Rotascreen latex particle agglutination (LPA) 80%. PAGE and EM were 100% specific while the Rotascreen LPA was 81% specific. Rotascreen LPA gave 15.5% false positive results. Of the HRV positive samples analyzed by PAGE, 5.3% and 94.7% were of subgroups I and II, respectively. The ID enzyme immunoassay and PAGE are reliable and inexpensive methods which can be recommended for HRV detection, particularly in areas with little technical support.