Prevalencia de rotavirus en pacientes menores de 5 años en el Hospital General HOSNAG de la ciudad de Guayaquil, durante el período 2017- 2021

Abstract

Introduction: The main cause worldwide of acute gastroenteritis in infants and Young children is rotavirus. In low income countries it is considered the main pathogen related to moderate to se severe diarrea causing mortality in children and in developed countries it is considered the main cause of morbidity. According to PAHO, the most common cause of diarrea in children is rotavirus infection and it was considered in 2016 that more deaths due to this virus in children under 5 years of age have decreased to 215.000in the world. Objective:Tthe present study has as general objective to know the prevalence of rotavirus in patients under 5 years old in the General Hospital HOSNAG, during the period 2017-2021. Methodology: Observational, retrospective, cross-sectional and analytical study. The universe was 300 patients and the sample was 168 children. Random probability sampling was performed and all patients under 5 years of age, attended by the Pediatrics service for clinical symptoms of gastroenteritis, were included. Results: The prevalence of rotavirus in patients under 5 years of age was 19.46%. The age with the highest number of cases was 2 years with 34.5% and the most frequent gender was male with 56%. Seventy-one percent of the patients had a personal pathologic history of gastroenteritis. Breastfeeding was positive in 57% of the cases and the nutritional status of these infants was normal weight with a result of 60.1%. As for the origin, the urban area had a higher significance obtaining 98% and the application of the vaccine against this virus was present in 79% of the sample. Conclusion and recommendation: It was concluded that during the period 2017-2021, the prevalence of rotavirus in patients aged 5 years at the General Hospital HOSNAG in the city of Guayaquil was 19.46%. However, it is recommended to conduct more studies on this pathology at tha national level, since the existing information is scarce.