Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhoea in children. Almost all children will be infected before the age of five years. Study confirms that approximately one third of children admitted to hospital with diarrhoea have rotavirus and reinforces need for a safe, effective vaccine.

· Rotavirus, first identified in 1973
· Causes a global disease of young children characterised by acute watery diarrhoea, fever, and vomiting.
· Self-limiting diarrhoea usually persists for 3-8 days but may last for up to 3 weeks.
· Fever and vomiting are most prominent during the first few days of the illness.

　　Compared with other common causes of diarrhoea, rotavirus infections are more often severe and more likely to be associated with dehydration and require hospitalisation. Consequently, the proportion of children hospitalised for diarrhoea caused by rotavirus is much higher than the proportion seen in the community or outpatient clinics.

　　Almost all children are infected with rotavirus and the peak incidence of infection is between 6 to 24 months of age. However infection may be asymptomatic, particularly among young infants under three months of age.

　　In both developed and developing countries approximately one third of all children admitted to hospital with diarrhoea will have rotavirus. However children in developing countries tend to be infected with rotavirus at an earlier age. In Hong Kong rotavirus has a distinct winter seasonality.

　　As rotavirus infection cannot be prevented by improvements in sanitation and hygiene, a vaccine is seen as the best option for controlling this disease. Prevention of rotavirus is a high priority and as part of a global initiative to fast track the development and introduction of a rotavirus vaccine, regional rotavirus surveillance networks are being set up to increase awareness of rotavirus disease and to collect disease burden data using similar protocols. Hong Kong has been participating in a regional network collecting data on rotavirus for the past 3 years.

　　In this study prospective surveillance was conducted at four of twelve public government HA hospitals. Hospital staff were encouraged to collect stool specimens from all children under five admitted with a primary or secondary diagnosis of diarrhoea. Children who failed to pass a diarrhoeal stool after admission or had vomiting only were excluded. Stool samples were assayed for rotavirus. There were 7391 diarrhoea admissions for the two-year period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2003 and 80% (5881/7391) had a stool specimen sent for rotavirus testing and 30% of these were positive for rotavirus (24% of all diarrhoeal admissions). Rotavirus is a significant cause of hospitalisation among children under five years old in Hong Kong, emphasising the potential benefit of a safe and effective rotavirus vaccine in this region.

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