Pathogens causing viral diarrhea in children aged 5 years in Xinhuang, Hunan, 2009-2011

Objective To understand the epidemiological characteristics of diarrhea and related pathogens in hospitalized children in Xinhuang, Hunan province. Methods Stool samples were collected from the diarrhea children aged 5 years in sentinel hospitals in Xinhuang from 2009 to 2011. Rotavirus was detected with immunoreagent kit by DAko and its subtyping/identification was conducted with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR). Adenovirus was detected with PCR, and astrovirus and calicivirus were detected with RT-PCR. Results From 2009 to 2011, the registered hospitalized patients number was 47 305 in Xinhuang, in which 9714 were children aged 5 years and 1506 of them were affected by diarrhea(15.50% of the child patients). Totally 1063 stool samples were detected. The positive rate was 18.38% for rotavirus,4.04% for adenovirus,8.84% for calicivirus and 0.47% for astrovirus. The differences had statistical significance(2=251.623,P=0.000). The major subtype of rotavirus A was P4 in 2009 and 2010, P8 in 2011, G3 in 2009 and 2011, and G1 in 2010. The gender specific difference in detection of rotavirus had statistical significance(2=5.657,P=0.017);Except calicivirus, the age specific differences in the positive rates of other 3 viruses had no statistical significance, but the time specific differences in positive rates of rotavirus, adenovirus and calicivirus had statistical significance. Conclusion The major pathogen to cause diarrhea in children aged 5 years was rotavirus in Xinhuang, followed by calicivirus and adenovirus. Astrovirus infection was rare.