Prospective, Descriptive Study of Rotaviral Infection in Vaccinated and Non-vaccinated Infants from Republic of Moldova

Abstract

Acute diarrheal disease is one of the most current health problems of the baby. Rotaviral infection is the most common cause of dehydration in infants and young children. The implementation of the sentinel surveillance of rotaviral infection in infants from 2008 in the Republic of Moldova demonstrated the high rate of this infection (40.0%), being an argument in recommending the antirotaviral immunization in children within the National Immunization Program. The study enrolled children with acute diarrheal disease, included in the sentinel supervision (2012–2016) and treated in the Unit of acute diarrheal dis-eases of Clinical Children’s Hospital no. 1. Were assessed 193 patients with acute diarrheal disease, according with a standard clinical approach. The biological material was examined by serological enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and genotyping revealed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The rotaviral infection was confirmed in 193 infants, of which 121 children were not vaccinated against rotaviral infection, and 72 were immunized. Depending on the genotypes encountered before and after vaccination, it was found that G9P, G3P, G4P was detected before vaccination, but post-vaccine prevailed G2P, G4P, also the incidence of rotaviral infection is decreasing, and the evolution of the disease is much easier. This article reflects the evolution of the genotypic properties of rotaviruses and the clinical-paraclinical particularities of rotaviral infection in infants, with a major importance in the context of the implementation of antirota-viral immunization in children within the National Immunization Program in the Republic of Moldova.