Over a 14-year period (1984-97) the presence of rotavirus in stool samples from children under 15 years with acute gastroenteritis was studied by enzymoimmunoanalysis. Serotyping (G1-G4) was performed using monoclonal antibodies. A total of 17,348 children under 15 were investigated. Rotavirus was detected in 3637 (21.0%) specimens, 74.6% of which were from children younger than 2 years old. G1 and G4 were the most frequent serotypes. In 1991-7, the minimum incidence of rotavirus gastroenteritis in children under 4 years of age was 21.7 cases/1000 children/year. By the age of 5 years, at least 1 out of 11.3 children and probably 1 out of every 5-6 children in this area had experienced an episode of rotavirus gastroenteritis that required medical care. In the 1984-90 period a clear seasonality was not observed but in the second period of the study (1991-7), seasonality was marked, with peak activity in winter.
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