EVALUATION OF A ROTAVIRUS ACUTE GASTROENTERITIS SEVERITY SCORE IN HOSPITALIZED CHILDREN OVER A TEN YEAR PERIOD IN A CLINIC OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, SKOPJE, R. MACEDONIA

Abstract Rotavirus infection is the most common viral infection of the gastrointestinal tract in children with the most severe clinical manifestations and rapidly progressive dehydration, especially in infancy and early childhood. Due to its characteristics of high contagiousness and being widespread in both developed countries and developing countries with a still high fatality rate, active prevention of the disease is recognized as the only successful measure for preventing severe forms of the disease. The assessment of the severity of the clinical picture with the corresponding severity scales, Vesikari or Clark, is essential for interpretation of the success of the applied vaccine. The purpose of the study: a ten-year review of the frequency of appearance and laboratory features of Rotavirus Gastroenteritis in Paediatrics at the Infectious Diseases Clinic, Skopje, Macedonia. The goal of the study is to stress the constant presence of infection with severe clinical manifestations and the necessity of the introduction of vaccination Materials and Methods: acute viral gastoenteritis patients were processed, whose clinical presentation indicated mandatory hospitalization. Biochemical laboratory parameters were required for all children, and they were grouped in appropriate severity groups depending on the values of the clinical parameters on the Vesikari and Clark scales. By taking a biochemical laboratory analysis using statistical methods we searched for an answer to whether and to what extent their values are predictive for assessment of the severity of the disease, and how much they influence the values in each of the scales. Results: 1012 children at an average age of 19.51 months, treated from 2003 to 2012, tested with 12 parameters and grouped into scales, showed the existence of a correlation between the scales of 0.8277. Processing our results suggests the use of a modified Vesikari scale for clinical assessment of disease severity, and thus the ability to monitor the effectiveness of vaccination