COMPARISON OF PEDIATRIC VIRAL GASTROENTERITIS AT LARGE MEDICAL-CENTERS IN SAUDI-ARABIA AND THE UNITED-KINGDOM

A comparison of the prevalence of viral diarrhoeas in children was mad e between the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia over a three-year period . Laboratory data from Saudi Arabia were compared with those of a larg e medical centre in the UK. The prevalence ratios of virus-associated diarrhoea as a fraction of all diarrhoeal cases over three years were found to be 23% in the UK and 14% in Saudi Arabia. The relative propor tion due to rotavirus and adenovirus was higher in the UK than in Saud i Arabia, but small round viruses were comparable at the two centres.