TMSS Medical College Journal

Background:Rotavirus infects almost all children by the age of five.More than 180,000 annual deaths due to rotavirus,occurs in Bangladesh.Aims:This study aimed to determine the incidence of rotavirus infection in children and compare enzyme -linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)and a modified polyacrylamide gel elctrophoretic (PAGE)analysis in detection of rotavirus in stool samples.Materials and Methods:In this descriptive type cross sectional study,a total of 400 stool samples were examined for the presence of rotavirus by ELISA and by a modified PAGE analysis of viral genome.Stool culture was done for common enteric pathogens.The study was carried out from November 2012 to July 2013 in the department of Microbiology,Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh.Results:Maximum incidence of rotavirus infection was seen in age group of 6 months-24 months (67.25%).Excellent correlation of ELISA and PAGE results was found in 365 of 400(91%)specimens.A total of 125(31%)of them were found to be positive for rotavirus by either methods.The proportion of ELISA+ve PAGE- ve samples (6/400)was lower than the proportion of ELISA-ve PAGE +ve samples (29/400).All 151 rotavirus positive cases did not show infection with bacterial pathogens.Conelusion:The modified PAGE technique for the detection of viral RNA was found to be rapid,simple,reliable and less expensive technique.

Rotavirus infects almost all children by the age of five,both in the developing and developed countries!.Rotavirus is composed by 11 double- stranded RNA segments surrounded by three concentric protein layers.The outer capsid consists of VP7 (a glycoprotein)and VP4 (a protease-sensitive protein) which carry independent neutralization and protective antigens2.In temperate climates,rotavirus is most often detected in the winter and rarely in the summer,whereas in the tropics it is found all year round,with less-defined seasonal variation3.Of the approximately 600,000 annual deaths due to rotavirus (RV)worldwide,more than 180,000 occur in Bangladesh.Also,20 to 30 percent hospitalized cases of diarrhoea are due to rotaviruses4. Clinically rotavirus gastroenteritis is characterized by profuse diarrhoea,mild fever and vomiting leading to mild to severe dehydration.The clinical manifestations of rotavirus diarrhoea alone are not sufficiently distinctive to permit diagnosis.The laboratory diagnosis of Rota virus infection is done mainly by ELISA,which require expensive commercial kits and reagents as also expensive instruments.Hence,not many laboratories are able to diagnose rotavirus infection.In view of this we undertook to evaluate the reliability of the Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) technique as developed by Herring et als.