Nosocomial rotavirus gastroenteritis in Spain: a multicenter prospective study.

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to assess the incidence of nosocomial rotavirus gastroenteritis among children <2 years of age. METHODS We conducted a prospective active surveillance for acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in the pediatric wards of 3 representative hospitals in Valencia (Spain) from October 2006 to March 2007, among children between 1 and 23 months of age with acute diarrhea. Children were followed up for 3 days after discharge. We obtained clinical and demographic information from participants and tested their stool specimens for rotavirus. RESULTS A total of 1576 children were hospitalized at the 3 hospitals and 1300 (82.5%) were followed up as the study cohort. In 69 …