HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS ATTRIBUTABLE TO ROTAVIRUS INFECTION IN ENGLAND AND WALES

Laboratory reports and data on hospital admissions were used to estima te the number of hospitalizations due to group A rotavirus infection i n England and Wales. Between January 1990 and December 1994, there wer e 75,059 laboratory reports of rotavirus infection, and 66,062 of thes e were in children <5 years old; rotavirus represented 39% of all path ogens identified in fecal specimens from this age group. Between April 1993 and March 1994, 1904 hospital admissions coded as ''infectious i ntestinal disease'' and 2354 coded as ''noninfective gastroenteritis'' occurred in children <5 in the North Thames region (a health authorit y representing 13% of the population in England and Wales). By modelin g admission and laboratory reporting data, it was estimated that 54% o f hospitalizations for intestinal infectious disease and 34% for nonin fective gastroenteritis were attributable to rotavirus. By extrapolati on of the North Thames data, it was estimated that 17,810 rotavirus-re lated hospitalizations (5/1000 children <5 years old) occurred in Engl and and Wales during the same period. Effective vaccines have the pote ntial to substantially reduce the number of hospital admissions due to group A rotavirus infection.