The increase in availability and use of find more rotavirus vaccines in the

future underlines the importance of surveillance networks to investigate the post-vaccine introduction epidemiology of rotavirus in terms of disease burden and effect on strain types. Sudhir Babji was supported by the Global Infectious Disease Research Training Grant (D43TW007392; PI – GK). None of the authors report a conflict of interest. “
“Rotavirus infection, mostly caused by Group A viruses, is prevalent in human populations worldwide. Although the virus infects older individuals, the disease can be severe in immunologically naïve infants and young children. The burden of severe rotavirus illness and deaths falls heavily upon children in low and middle-income countries: more than 80% of rotavirus-related deaths are estimated to occur in lower income countries of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa [1]. India has an especially large population at risk of clinically significant rotavirus gastroenteritis (GE); of the 1.2 billion people, 11% are <5 years old. Worldwide in 2008, diarrhea attributable to rotavirus infection resulted in 453,000 deaths (95% CI 420,000–494,000) in children younger than 5 years representing selleck compound 37% of deaths attributable to

diarrhea and 5% of all deaths in children younger than 5 years. Five countries accounted for more than half of all deaths attributable to rotavirus infection: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan with India alone accounting for 22% of deaths (98,621 deaths) [2]. Typical clinical signs of infection include fever, projectile vomiting, and profuse watery diarrhea, which may significantly dehydrate the infected child. Moderate to severe dehydration in young children is more often associated Rebamipide with rotavirus infection than other enteropathogens. There are no specific medications for rotavirus GE, but rehydration with oral rehydration salts (ORS) has long been a standard therapy for acute infantile diarrhea. Severe dehydration can be life threatening and requires treatment in a clinic or hospital where the child

can receive intravenous (IV) fluids and appropriate case management. The purpose of this observational study was to carry out a hospital-based surveillance of rotavirus gastroenteritis in children ≤59 months of age and develop estimates of disease burden in the population under surveillance. A prospective hospital-based surveillance was conducted at 12 medical centers attached to Medical Schools across India. From North India subjects were enrolled from Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana; Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University, Lucknow; Kalawati Saran Children Hospital, New Delhi; Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh and Sawai Man Singh Medical College, Jaipur.