PREVALENCE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF SEVERE ROTAVIRUS INFECTIONS IN NICARAGUAN CHILDREN

We analyzed the prevalence of rotavirus in 296 children aged between 3 and 36 months who were hospitalized in 1994 with severe gastro-enteri tis at two health centres for diarrhoea treatment in Leon, Nicaragua. Enteric viruses were detected in 96 (32.4%) of the children and rotavi ruses were the most common pathogens detected in 84 (28%). The majorit y of rotavirus infections occurred in children less than 1 year old an d all strains isolated belonged to subgroup II and had 'long' RNA patt erns. Molecular epidemiology of 55 rotavirus strains revealed that all had the same RNA migration pattern and serotyping of 37 strains by PC R technology revealed that all isolates belonged to serotype 3. A sign ificant observation was that only one electropherotype of rotavirus ci rculated. No non-group A rotaviruses were found by RNA gel electrophor esis. Adenoviruses were found by ELISA in 14 of 265 (5%) children and were most frequently detected during the 1st year of life. Of 103 faec al samples analyzed by electron microscopy, four contained small round structured viruses.