[Effect of climatic factors on the epidemiology of rotavirus infection in children under 5 years of age in the city of Maracaibo, Venezuela].

Diarrhea is one of the most common problem of public health worldwide, specially in developing countries. In Venezuela, this affection must be weekly reported when it occurs in children under five years of age. During June 1993 to May 1995, 379 stool specimens were obtained from children under five years of age with diarrhea admitted in Hospital de Niños of Maracaibo, Venezuela. Control group was conformed by 93 asymptomatic children. The rotavirus RNA was extracted with phenol-chloroform and precipitated with ethanol. Finally, polyacrylamide-gel-electrophoresis (PAGE), followed by silver staining was employed for rotavirus detection. Our results showed 62 (16.4%) positive cases for rotavirus in symptomatic children and 9 (9.7%) in control group. The highest incidence was showed in the infants under one year of age (21.5%). The electrophoretic analysis revealed only one long electropherotype pattern in studied samples. It was observed a close relationship between the increase of rotavirus cases and the increase of the pluviometric index and a decrease of mean temperature observed during the period of study. Both variables determine the increase or decrease of viral infection in our region. This result shows the importance of the climatic factors in the rotavirus epidemiology.