ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To report the data of burden of rotaviral acute gastroenteritis in under-five children from two states post-introduction of the vaccine. METHODS: Children under 5 y of age hospitalized with diarrhea from the states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh in north India were recruited in the study. Commercially available ELISA kits were used for testing rotavirus in the collected stool samples. Genotyping of the positive samples was done by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Out of 345 samples collected, 69 (20%) were found to be positive for rotavirus by ELISA. Genotyping was done and G3P[8] (31.3%), G1P[8] (13.4%), G2P[4] (13.4%) were found to be prevalent strains. Mixed strains were also found in 19.4% stool samples. CONCLUSIONS: The study highlighted the high burden of rotavirus associated diarrhea in north Indian states. The data is helpful for evaluating the impact of vaccine on the severity of acute gastroenteritis and the changing strains after the introduction of rotavirus vaccine in the Universal Immunization Program.