A long term study of rotavirus infection in Thai infants and children with diarrhoea.

During 1977-1980, human rotavirus was detected by electron microscopic technique in the stool of 55 (30.7%) of 179 patients, hospitalized in Bangkok Metropolis. Characteristic particles 65-70 nm in diameter, round shape, resembling a little wheel with radius capsomeres from the dense core. Other some adenovirus and small virus particles were seen, 2.8% and 2.2% respectively. Seasonal distribution among Thai patients with rotavirus infection mostly occurred in January (58.8%). The youngest patient in this study was 30 days old, and the frequency of human rotavirus infection was highest at age six to eleven months.