Viral Etiology and its Association with Demographics and Clinical Characteristics in Children Hospitalized for Watery Diarrhea

Background: Acute infectious gastroenteritis (AG) stands for one of the commonest causes of death in children under 5 years of age. Objective: To assess the prevalence of viral etiology in children hospitalized for watery diarrhea and identify the relation between patients’ characteristics and the underlying viral etiology of AG. Methods: A cross-sectional study included children hospitalized with AG who presented with watery diarrhea. Three sets of data were collected: the sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, residence, type of feeding, method of sterilization, number of family members, and socioeconomic status), the clinical characteristics (duration of illness, frequency of diarrhea per day, presence of vomiting, degree of dehydration, fever, and napkin rash), and the laboratory result (white blood cell count, C-reactive protein, pus on general stool exam, and the type of viral etiology detected in the stool by immunoassay). Results: A total of 216 children aged less than 5 years were included, with 170(78.7%) who were less than 1 year of age. Less than two-thirds of the patients (59%) had identified viral etiology, in which 102 children (47%) had rotavirus in their stool and 26(12%) adenoviruses were detected. Four sociodemographic factors were significantly related to the viral etiology: age less than 1 year, male sex in adenovirus and female in rotavirus, formula feeding, and socioeconomic status. Conclusions: The study highlights an increasing frequency of viral detection in children hospitalized with watery diarrhea, with rotavirus remaining the most identified pathogen, followed by adenovirus.