Child rotavirus infection in association with acute gastroenteritis in twoChinese sentinel hospitals

Rotavirus gastroenteritis is an important pediatric disease in China. In a survey of rotavirus infection at two sentinel hospitals in China (Beijing F riendship Hospital and Changchun Children's Hospital), 296 cases were detec ted. A total of 283 (95.6%) cases of rotavirus infection occurred in childr en under 5 years of age. Serotype G1 (62%) was most prevalent followed by G 2 (28.5%), G3 (5%) and G4 (2%). Mixed infections (n=8, 3%) were rare, and 1 6 isolates (5.5%) remained non-typeable. A consistent epidemic occurred dur ing the winter. Rotavirus was responsible for about 61.8% of diarrhea-relat ed hospitalizations in children under 5 years of age, with a mean hospital stay of 5.6 days (1.0-21 days). The estimated rate of rotavirus-attributed hospitalizations was 16/1000 children under 5 years of age per year. Rotavi rus-related death is rare in Changchun and Beijing. The present findings su ggest that a rotavirus vaccine for the prevention of severe disease and a r eduction of treatment costs would be of significant benefit to China.