Apropos "Rotavirus infection in a tertiary hospital: laboratory diagnosis and impact of immunization on pediatric hospitalization"

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Apropos "Rotavirus infection in a tertiary hospital: laboratory diagnosis and impact of immunization on pediatric hospitalization"

Subhash C. Arya^*; Nirmala Agarwal

Sant Parmanand Hospital, Delhi

Dear Editor,

We compliment the investigators at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil¹ for their meticulous assessment of rotavirus diagnostics, based on latex agglutination (LA), enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), for diagnosis of rotavirus infection in stool samples.

Nevertheless, it would not be that simple to employ their recommended ELISA technology¹ in several non-academics, non-research healthcare centers since laboratory facilities are less than satisfactory.² Consequently, simple, one-step assays would be essential to diagnose cases with rotavirus gastroenteritis. Although the currently available rapid diagnostics for rotavirus infection are, to some extent, serving the purpose,^1,3 it would be desirable if more efficient assay formats were developed. They would be useful for disease diagnosis in clinical practice among infants, young children, and elderly,⁴ and to monitor efficacy of rotavirus vaccines in rural and remote areas, where one-step diagnostics might be the only option.

In conclusion, the development of simpler, sensitive and specific one-step, point-of-care diagnostics for rotavirus diagnosis is needed to address the global morbidity attributable to rotavirus among masses at both the extremes of their life.

Conflict of interest

All authors declare to have no conflict of interest.

Received 6 November 2011

Accepted 7 November 2011

• 1. Pereira LA, Raboni SM, Nogueira MB, et al. Rotavirus infection in a tertiary hospital: laboratory diagnosis and impact of immunization on pediatric hospitalization. Braz J Infect Dis. 2011;15(3):215-9.
• 2. Mundy CJ, Bates I, Nkhoma W, et al. The operational quality and costs of a district hospital laboratory service in Malawi. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2003;97:403-408.
• 3. Perl S, Goldman M, Berkovitch M, Kozer E. Characteristics of rotavirus gastroenteritis in hospitalized children in Israel. Isr Med Assoc J. 2011;13(5):274-7.
• 4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Notes from the field: outbreaks of rotavirus gastroenteritis among elderly adults in two retirement communities - Illinois, 2011. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2011;60:1456.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  20 June 2012
• Date of issue
  June 2012