Rotavirus as an aetiological agent of acute childhood diarrhoea in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Of the 456 urban children aged 14 days and 4 years examined for rotavirus in this study, 376 had diarrhoea while 80 were without diarrhoea and serve as control. Among the 376 diarrhoeic children, 57 (15.2%) had rotavirus while none of the 80 control children had the virus. Rotavirus was significantly higher (p less than 0.05) among the in-patients (19.8%) than in the out-patients (10.3%) and among children of 7-12 months compared with other aged groups. The majority of the children that had the rotavirus lived in areas without pipe-borne water and similarly belonged to the low-socio-economic level. It is therefore possible to deduce from this work that rotavirus is still a major aetiology of acute childhood diarrhoea in Nigeria and its incidence can be affected by hygienic practices, the environment and socio-economic level.