Abstract:
Background/Introduction: Diarrhea is a leading killer of children around the world.
Responsible for 4 to 6 million deaths per year according to the World Health
Organization. The disease is characterised by vomiting, fever and watery diarrhoea,
associated with dehydration and sometimes death in children. It is associated with high
cases of morbidity and mortality and it is estimated that up to 600,000 deaths in young
children occur annually in the less developed countries and approximately 150,000-
200,000 deaths occur in Africa alone. Rotavirus is the leading viral agent causing
gastroenteritis in children.
Rationale: The study aimed at accurately determining the prevalence and associated
factors of group A rotavirus disease in a resource-poor setting necessary to make
informed decisions on provision appropriate interventions for prevention and control.
Objectives To determine the prevalence and associated factors of rotavirus
gastroenteritis in children aged 0-5 years in Moshi Municipal Health facilities.
Methodology: This was cross- sectional descriptive study conducted in a hospital
setting, involving children of five years of age and below with diarrhoea, and whose
faecal samples were collected and tested for rotavirus by ELISA test at MUHAS
Microbiology laboratory. All patients who met case definition were included in the
study. Completed questionnaires were coded by numbers and double entered in a
computer using Epi info software version 3.5.1. Chi- squire test was used to explore
bivariate associations for categorical variables.
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Results Of the 249 children with diarrhoea 31(12.4%) showed stool rotavirus positive
results among these, 17 (54.8%) were females and14 (45.2%) were males. Prevalence
varied by sex being 5.6% in males and 6.8% among females. The over all mean age was
23.3 months; mean age for females was 23.5 months where as for males was 23.0
months. Rotavirus positive specific age group distribution, 30 (96.8%) children are in
the age group 7- 24 months and 1(3.2%) child in the age group 25-60 months.
Conclusion and Recommendations: This study shows insignificant prevalence of
rotavirus gastroenteritis that could decrease the importance of vaccination by health
education to parents on oral rehydration therapy, general sanitation, improvement of
water supplies and proper excreta disposal this could reduce the burden of diarrhea
diseases including rotavirus.
