Abstract

Background and objective: Diarrheal diseases cause around 1.5 million fatalities worldwide annually, making it the second most common cause of death among children. Annually in India, the mortality rate due to rotavirus diarrhea is 1 in every 250 children. Method: A prospective study was conducted on 120 unique stool samples from children under the age of 5 who were hospitalized in the pediatric unit due to acute diarrhea. The stool samples were analyzed using the premier rotaclone enzyme immunoassay methodology to detect the presence of rotavirus antigen, following conventional laboratory safety measures. Result: In our scenario, the prevalence of acute diarrheal illnesses was 5.86%. The ELISA approach detected the presence of rotavirus in 29% of the patients. Conclusion: The enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for detecting rotavirus antigen is a dependable test due to its quantitative nature and its excellent sensitivity and specificity. Therefore, it can be regularly utilized to prevent significant illness and death in children, particularly those under the age of 5. Keywords: Acute diarrhoea, rotavirus, children, mortality, EIA.

Description