Global Seasonality of Rotavirus Infections

Data from 34 studies of the etiology of childhood diarrhoea were compiled in order to investigate the seasonal patterns of rotavirus gastroenteritis and consider their implications for transmission of the virus. Rotavirus was detected in 11-71% of children with diarrhoea, and the median rate of detection (33%) was independent of the level of economic development or geographical region of the study area, as well as of the method of detection used. While rotavirus infections have been called a winter disease in the temperate zones, we found that their incidence peaked in winter primarily in the Americas and that peaks in the autumn or spring are common in other parts of the world. In the tropics, the seasonality of such infections is less distinct and within 10 degrees latitude (north or south) of the equator, eight of the ten locations exhibited no seasonal trend. Throughout most of the world, rotavirus is present all the year round, which suggests that low-level transmission could maintain the chain of infection. The virus is spread by the faecal-oral route but airborne or droplet transmission has also been postulated. The epidemiology of rotavirus--its seasonality in the cooler months, its universal spread in temperate and tropical zones in developed and less developed settings--more closely resembles that of childhood viruses that are spread by the respiratory route (such as measles) than that of common enteric pathogens that are spread predominantly by the faecal-oral route.