Hospitalization due to rotavirus acute gastroenteritis:: a four-year survey.

Hospitalization due to rotavirus acute gastroenteritis: a four-year survey. Objective. - To evaluate the number of hospitalizations due to community-acquired rotavirus acute gastroenteritis in a general pediatric unit during a four-year survey. Results. -From January 1997 to December 2000, 725 patients were admitted for acute gastro-enteritis to the general paediatric unit of a Parisian children hospital (nosocomial diarrhoea excluded) and 706 (97.5%) of these patients had had a stool microbiologic examination. Diarrhoea was caused by rotavirus in 359 patients (50.89%) and Salmonella sp in 61 (8.6%). Children and infants hospitalized for rotavirus acute gastroenteritis were younger (26% had three months or less, and 50.03% had six months or less) than in other European studies. Conclusion. - This study is the first in France reporting a systematic survey of hospitalized gastroenteritis during four years. More than half of hospitalized community-acquired gastroenteritis, were due to rotavirus in this Parisian area. The young age of patients should be investigated in other French areas, searching for risk factors and rotavirus strains. (C) 2002 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.