Background: To determine the epidemiological profile of viruses associated with acute gastroenteritis in children younger than 5 years of age and the distribution of rotavirus genotypes circulating in Colombia.
Methodology: We conducted a review of 23 studies published in Spanish and English, plus an analysis of the detection rates of rotavirus as well as other viruses associated with acute gastroenteritis in young children from 1984 to 2006 in the three Colombian regions. This review also included the only two studies conducted to date (published between 2004 and 2006) reporting G-P rotavirus strains using RT-PCR.
Results: The median detection rate of group A Rotavirus was 35.2% (range, 2.2%-57.4%) and those for Calicivirus, Astrovirus and Adenovirus 40/41 were 10.4%, 2.7% and 1.35%, respectively. The more commonly reported rotavirus GP combination, G3P [8] (32.7%) was more frequently documented than both G1P [8] (24.7%) and G2P [4] (22.9%). The G9 genotype, which is considered emergent, was also reported.
Conclusions: Group A Rotavirus was frequently associated with diarrhoea in children from the three regions. There was regional variation in rotavirus detection rates. Continual surveillance is needed to inform diarrhoea prevention programs as well as to provide information about the occurrence of native rotavirus strains.