Burden of rotavirus and enteric bacterial pathogens among children under five years old hospitalized with diarrhea in suburban and rural areas in Kenya

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the incidence of rotavirus and enteric bacterial infections among children up to five years old with diarrhea living in suburban and rural areas in Kenya. It was a cross-sectional descriptive study, and a total of 1060 diarrheal fecal specimens were obtained from 722 children at the Kiambu County Hospital (KCH) located in a suburban area and 338 children from the Mbita District Hospital (MDH) located in a rural part of western Kenya, between August 2011 and December 2013. Of the 1060 isolates, group A rotavirus (RVA) was detected in 29.6% (214/722) and 11.3% (38/338) fecal specimens from KCH and MDH respectively. Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) was found to be the most frequently isolated bacterial pathogens in both study areas (32.8% at KCH and 44.1% at MDH). Two different mixed infection patterns (virus/bacteria and bacteria/bacteria) were observed among patients. A significantly higher infection rate of rotavirus (17.6%, p = 0.001) and DEC (10.5%, p = 0.007) were observed during the dry season. Our study describes that in both suburban and rural settings in Kenya, rotavirus and DEC are the principal cause of pediatric diarrhea and exhibited higher incidence during the dry season.