Viral gastroenteritis in rotavirus negative hospitalized children <5 years of age from the independent states of the former Soviet Union.

Purpose: Rotavirus causes nearly 40% of all hospitalizations for AGE among children <5 years of age in the NIS of the former Soviet Union. The etiologic role of other established gastroenteritis viruses in this age group is unknown.

Methods: Laboratory-confirmed rotavirus negative fecal specimens (N=495) collected between January and December 2009 from children in 6 NIS (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine) were tested for norovirus, sapovirus, enteric adenovirus and astrovirus by real-time RT-PCR.

Enterohemorrhagic E. coli and hemolytic uremic syndrome in Georgia.

It is important to consider that between Jul-October 2009 in the pathologic center of infectious diseases (Tbilisi State Medical University Department of Infectious Diseases) among hospitalized patients with hemorrhagic colitis 25 patients developed HUS syndrome. Most of patients were rural residents 20 (80%), only 5 (20%) were urban. 11 (44%) patients were children, 14 (56%) were adults.

Rotavirus burden among children in the newly independent states of the former union of soviet socialist republics: literature review and first-year results from the rotavirus surveillance network.

Background: Data on rotavirus burden among children in the 15 newly independent states of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, particularly contemporary data from poorer countries, are not widely available. These data are desired by policy makers to assess the value of rotavirus vaccination, especially since the GAVI Alliance approved financial support for the region's eligible countries. The Rotavirus Surveillance Network was established to provide these data.