Serological and Molecular Detection of Rotavirus Infection in Children Under Five Years in Nassyriah Province

The present study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of rotavirus (RV) disease among children under 5 years old whom consulting Bint-Al Huda teaching hospital in Nassyriah province, Iraq. Two hundred and fifty stool samples obtained from children with acute diarrhea was screened for RV infection using Enzyme linked Immunosorbant Assay (ELISA), as serological tool, and Real-Time quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR), as molecular technique, during the period of November 2011 to June 2012. Out of 250 stool samples, rotavirus infection was detected in 72 (28.8%) child by both technique. LISA test results showed that 54 were RV-positive sera with a percentage of (21.6%). RT-qPCR technique was used to detect the presence of rotavirus in 96-negative ELISA samples. The results showed that there were 18 stool samples showed RV-positive reaction for NSP4 gene with a percentage of infection as (18.75%). The most common clinical features included diarrhea with 72 (100%) child, in addition to, vomiting in 31 cases s (43.06%) and fever with 15 (20.83%). Males tends to be more affected with RV infection with 40 (55.56%) child in compare to female with 32 (44.44%) child (p>0.05). The peak incidence of RV diarrhea was seen in children aged (1-7) and (8-15) months with a total RV-positive sera of 64 (88.89%) child (p