Incidence of Rota Virus as a Causative Pathogen in Iraqi Children Infected by Diarrhea Raheem Samir S.1, Alomari Mohammed M.M.1, Al-Salih Nawar J.H.1 1Collage of Veterinary Medicine, University of Al-Muthanna, Iraq Online published on 6 April, 2019. Abstract Rotavirus infection is common, particularly during the cooler months, among infants and children 1 to 24 months of age. Older children and adults can also be affected, but attack rates are usually much lower. Outbreaks among elderly, institutionalized patients have also been recognized. Rotaviruses appear to localize primarily in the duodenum and proximal jejunum, causing destruction of villous epithelial cells with blunting (shortening) of villi and variable, usually mild, infiltrates of mononuclear and a few polymorphonuclear inflammatory cells within the villi. In developing areas of the world, diarrhea is a significant cause of death in infants. It is estimated that young children in developing countries experience 1.5 billion episodes of diarrhea and 4 million associated deaths each year. Approximately 15% of children in developing nations die of diarrhea before 3 years of age, in United States 20–35 million episodes of diarrhea occur in every year, resulting in 2.1 to 3.7 million physician visits. In addition, an average of 220.000 children younger than 5 years of age with diarrhea are hospitalized and approximately 125 deaths are occurring each year, (Hospitalized and outpatient care for pediatric diarrhea result in direct costs of more than $2 billion per year with additional indirect costs to families. Aim of the study to evaluate the role of the Rota virus as a causative pathogen in Iraqi children less than two years of age suffered from diarrhea A stool samples from 360 children suffered from diarrhea with less than 5 years of age were subjected for detection of Rota virus, using an antigen reagent ((a suspension of polystyrene latex particles of uniform size coated with immunoglobulin directed specifically against rotavirus antigen obtained from the simian rotavirus strain SA-11)). Samples were collected during the period from December 2017 to march 2018 from out and inpatients related to Al-Mansour teaching hospital in Baghdad. A 15 case out of 360 represent 4.16% diarrheal infected children majority below 6 months of age were founded to be positive for Rota virus test, all cases reported in September and October. Rota virus represents a considerable and significant pathogen in diarrheal infected children in Iraq and results in a morbidity and mortality in addition to financial loss. Top Keywords Rota virus, diarrhea, children. Top |