Rotavirus infection in infants and young children in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of rotavirus in infants and young children in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A population-based prevalence study was done in randomly selected infants and young children suffering from acute diarrhoea. Faecal specimens were collected from 479 patients. A latex agglutination test was used for rotavirus detection. All positive and 10 negative samples for rotavirus by latex agglutination were also tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Results: Rotavirus was detected in 48 (10%) patients using latex agglutination test. ELISA detected 46/48 positive samples. Ten samples that tested negative with latex test were also negative with ELISA. Infection with rotavirus was more frequent among infants and children < 2 years old, with a maximum incidence among children 0-12 months. Rotavirus infection was 3.1% in Saudi nationals, compared to 6.9% in other nationalities.

Conclusion: In this study the prevalence rate of 10% was low compared to other studies done in different regions of Saudi Arabia. This low rate could be due to the geographical location of Makkah with very hot and dry summer, and mild winter and almost no rain throughout the year.