Rotavirus infection in neonates at a university hospital in Korea

Abstract

To develop measures to prevent neonatal rotavirus infection, we carried out rotavirus surveillance testing on all the newborns who were admitted to a newborn nursery in Korea during 1 year. We investigated the characteristics of neonatal rotavirus infection and found that it occurred throughout the year with the G4P[6] strain exclusively. Most newborns were infected nosocomially and showed no symptoms. We concluded that rotavirus might be transmitted from asymptomatic infected newborns who were born outside the hospital. We recommend isolation and rotavirus surveillance testing for all transfer patients.