The clinical and molecular epidemiology of community- and healthcare-acquired rotavirus gastroenteritis.

Background: Rotavirus is the most common etiologic agent of healthcare-acquired diarrhea in pediatric patients. There has been little published information on healthcare-acquired rotavirus infection.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of children hospitalized with rotavirus gastroenteritis at our institution between December 1999 and May 2004.

Novel rotavirus VP7 typing assay using a one-step reverse transcriptase PCR protocol and product sequencing and utility of the assay for epidemiological studies and strain characterization, including serotype subgroup analysis.

Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe dehydrating gastroenteritis in infants. To date, 10 different serotypes of rotavirus have been identified in human stools. While four or five serotypes dominate, serotype circulation varies with season and geography.