Changing Characteristics of Rotavirus Diarrhea in Children Younger than Five Years in Urban Bangladesh

Background: Childhood rotavirus diarrhea is still one of the major public health challenges. The present study aimed to determine changing characteristics of rotavirus diarrhea in under-5 children at two periods of time. Methods: We enrolled 5,357 under-5 children with rotavirus positive in two different time periods; i) 1993-1997 (n = 2,493), and ii) 2008–2012 (n = 2,864) considering beginning and ending of two decades. These children were enrolled in the urban Dhaka Hospital of icddr,b. Results: Overall, proportion of rotavirus was about 25 % in 1993–97, which was 42 % in 2008–12 (68 % rise; p,0.001). Significant higher proportion of children were stunted [38 % vs. 22%; aOR-1.33 (95 % CI-1.09-1.62)], had vomiting [87 % vs. 74%; aOR-2.58 (95 % CI-2.02-3.28)], fever [10 % vs. 8%; aOR-1.31 (95 % CI-0.96-1.78)], family members.5 [38 % vs. 35%; aOR-1.32 (95 % CI-1.10-1.58)] required more intravenous fluid [9 % vs. 3%; aOR-4.93 (95 % CI-3.19-7.63)], had higher co-infection with Shigella [3 % vs. 1%; aOR-3.36 (95 % CI-1.61-7.03)], Vibrio cholerae [4 % vs. 1%; aOR-3.70 (95 % CI-2.12-6.46)]; and ETEC [13 % vs. 7%; aOR-2.21 (95 % CI-1.65-2.97)]; however, significantly lower proportion of them used sanitary toilets [54 % vs. 78%; aOR-0.66 (95 % CI-0.54-0.80)], boiled drinking water [16 % vs. 38%; aOR-0.60 (95 % CI-0.48-0.74)], used antimicrobial at home [63 % vs. 82%; aOR-0.56 (95 % CI-0.46-0.69)] and had some or severe dehydration [18 % vs. 34%; aOR-0.15 (95 % CI-0.12-0.20)] in 1st observation period compared to that of 2nd