Rotavirus infection in hospitalized children and estimates of disease burden in Kyrgyzstan, 2005–2007

To estimate the rotavirus-associated burden in Kyrgyzstan, we conducted hospital surveillance among children <5 years old with diarrhoea during 2005–2007. Of 3756 children hospitalized with diarrhoea, 26% had rotavirus detected in stool samples by an enzyme immunoassay. The virus genotype G1P[8] was identified in 60% of 190 characterized samples from 2005 to 2006. The estimated risk for rotavirus hospitalization by age 5 years was 1 in 28 children. One quarter of all gastroenteritis hospitalizations in children <5 years old in Kyrgyzstan may be attributable to rotavirus. Rotavirus vaccination could be an important health intervention to reduce the burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis.