[Rotavirus in stools from hospitalized children].

Electron microscopy, ELISA for rotavirus and virus cultivation in cell cultures were used to study the occurrence of rotavirus in 451 fecal samples collected from hospitalized children. Rotavirus was found in samples from 24 of 27 patients admitted with acute diarrhoea. All specimens from randomly selected patients without diarrhoea were negative. Two patients developed nosocomial rotavirus infection. ELISA was positive, but electron microscopy was negative in two specimens obtained from asymptomatic newborns. In this investigation rotavirus was the dominating agent isolated in infectious gastroenteritis. We found no rotavirus excretors without diarrhoea.