Epidemiology of rotavirus diarrhoea in children under five years in Bahrain.

A case-control study in children under five years of age was undertaken in Bahrain between February 1984 to March 1986 to study the aetiology of diarrhoea with special reference to rotavirus. During this period fecal samples were collected from 698 hospitalized and non-hospitalized diarrhoea cases and 532 from non-diarrhoea controls. Rotavirus was the enteropathogen most commonly detected (20.8%) and represented 68.7% of the total positives from the cases. Percentage rotavirus infection detected in the hospitalized patients was significantly higher than in non-hospitalized cases. Rotavirus was most frequently detected in the age group 6-11 months (26.6%). Rotavirus was not detected at all above 24 months of age. A higher percentage of rotavirus infection was noticed in males up to 11 months. Children of mothers with university education showed a higher level of rotavirus infection (39.3%) in comparison to children of mothers with school level education (20.4%) or no education (19.6%). Rotavirus was detected more often in patients from higher income homes (25.6%) compared to a lower income group (18.2%). No significant difference in rotavirus positivity was noticed between the children of working and non-working mothers. Rotavirus detection in relation to different feeding habits showed no difference. Rotavirus could be detected throughout the year from diarrhoea cases in Bahrain and showed no seasonal trend. It did not show any correlation with mean monthly temperature and mean monthly relative humidity.