[Molecular epidemiology of rotavirus infections at units of children's hospitals].

From the 16.6. 1983 until the 5.9. 1984 337 stool specimens were collected from 258 patients in the pediatric clinics of the University hospital of Mannheim and of Heidelberg. They were tested for Rotavirus antigen and Rotavirus genome-dsRNA. Of the 192 rotavirus antigen-positive children, 91.1% experienced the infection in their first year of life with a distinct peak during the winter and a noticeably high percentage of newborn babies being affected. Forty-six electropherotypes and three of them as mixed types were found. Of these four predominated in nearly half of the material tested positive, and these four types differed among each other only in a minor way. No sex-related preference was demonstrated. Cases in which serious symptoms developed were not associated with any specific electropherotype. The course of duration and the symptoms of the 67 nosocomial rotavirus infections did not differ from those of the other children.