A prospective study was conducted over 2 years on 4600 children aged between 2 weeks to 5 years with acute gastroenteritis who were attending the pediatric clinics of Al-Zahraa and Al-Karama Teaching Hospitals in Kut - Iraq for the period between 1st of July 2017 to 30th of June 2018 to identify the role of rotavirus in children with acute gastroenteritis. The aim of this study is to focus a light on the clinical and laboratory findings of rotavirus infection among young children presented with acute gastroenteritis to offer informations for the health authorities to standardize a proper guidelines for prevention, control and management of this serious disease. Fecal specimens were collected properly and tested for the presence of human rotavirus antigen by Latex Agglutination (LA) test. The rotavirus antigen was detected in 55% of fecal specimens from children with acute gastroenteritis. Human rotavirus antigen was detected more in stool of infants between 6 – 24 months of age, more during winter months, more in low socio-economic group and rural patients; and lowest among breast-fed infants. There was no sex predilection to get the infection with the virus. Children with acute gastroenteritis due to rotavirus infection may have certain clinical and laboratory findings that raise the indexes of suspicion for a clinical diagnosis of the condition.
