Trends in the incidence of viral infections transmitted via the fecal-oral route in Rostov region in 2007-2016

This study was undertaken to assess long-term dynamics in the incidence of viral infections transmitted via the fecal-oral route and the age structure of the affected population. We retrospectively analyzed the incidence of rotavirus infection (RVI), norovirus infection (NVI), enterovirus infection (EVI), viral hepatitis A (VHA) observed in 2007-2016. We found that long-term dynamics in the incidence of viral infections transmitted via the fecal-oral route in Rostov region is characterized by periodic fluctuations with a pronounced tendency to increase; the mean growth rate was 9.2%. The incidence of NVI and EVI demonstrated the highest growth rates: 22.7% and 20.0% respectively. The incidence of VHA was slowly decreasing (growth rate -10.2%). The urban population had higher incidence of RVI, EVI, and VHA than the rural population, whereas NVI incidence among rural residents exceeded that of urban residents in some years. The evaluation of the age structure showed that the majority of patients with viral intestinal infections (87.8% to 95.1%) were children under 17 years of age; of them, 90% of cases were registered in children under 14 years of age. In this age group ( function show_eabstract() { $('#eabstract1').hide(); $('#eabstract2').show(); $('#eabstract_expand').hide(); }