Globally, diarrhoea is the second commonest infectious cause of death in\nchildren less than 5 years old. It is estimated that more than one billion diarrhoea\nepisodes occur every year causing up to 700,000 deaths among children\nyounger than 5 years of age. Seventy-two percent of these deaths occur in\nchildren below two years and enteric viruses have been recognized as a major\ncause of childhood diarrhoea. This study was undertaken to determine the\nprevalence of enteric Adenoviruses and Rotaviruses in children with diarrhoea\nin rural Enugu communities of Enugu State South East Nigeria. Methods:\nStool samples were collected from children less than 5 years with diarrhoea\nseen in any of the participating hospitals in Enugu State. Samples were\ncollected between June 2015 and May 2017. Detection of rotavirus and enteric\nadenovirus antigens were performed using commercially available ELISA kit\n(Oxoid-ProspecT®). Demographic data of the children were also collected.\nResults: Of the 290 stool samples that had sufficient materials for adenovirus\nand rotavirus ELISA, 14 (4.8%) and 89 (30.7%) were positive for enteric adenovirus\nand rotavirus respectively. 3 (1%) were co-infected with adenovirus\nand rotavirus. Rotavirus positive cases were more among hospitalized patients\nwhile enteric adenovirus was more among outpatients. Marked peaks\nof rotavirus positivity were seen in January of each year but no peak was seen\namong adenovirus positive cases. Higher vomiting frequencies and severe\ndehydration were more among rotavirus positive cases compared to adenovirus\npositive cases (p = 0.030 and 0.001 respectively). Conclusion: Many diarrhoea\ncases among children aged <5 in the population studied were associated\nwith enteric adenoviruses and rotavirus. This finding suggests that enteric viral agents (adenovirus and rotavirus) are important aetiologies for\nchildhood diarrhoea in Enugu state Nigeria. Appropriate preventive, diagnostic\nand treatment interventions should be instituted so as to reduce the\nmortality and morbidity associated with these viruses.
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