Globally, a considerable number of infants and children younger than five are falling victim to diarrheal diseases predominantly caused by rotaviruses, which are non-enveloped, double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses able to cause acute gastroeteritis and extragastrointestinal complications. Annually, human rotaviruses cause two million hospitalizations and over 500,000 deaths worldwide. Rotaviral replication, pathogenesis, and immune evasion are propagated by non-structural protein 1 (NSP1), encoded by segment five of their dsRNA genome. We examined 60 urine and stool samples from children aged 2-60 months admitted to Babylon Obstetric and Children Hospital diagnosed with acute group A rotavirus gastroenteritis from November 2020 to January 2021. This study aimed to check the presence of NSP1 by immunochromatography assay and RT-qPCR. Immunochromatography assay detected NSP1 in 100% of urine and stool samples; however, RT-qPCR only detected it in 66.7% of urine and 50% of stool samples. RT-qPCR found 12 out of 30 urine and stool samples positive, accounting for 40% of participants. No significant correlations between RT-qPCR results and sociodemographic factors were found. Results found 73.3% of acute gastroenteritis cases were in children under two. Additionally, the urinary detection of NSP1 suggests that rotaviruses may cause extra-gastrointestinal infections, e.g., systemic infection or viremia.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This study did not receive any external funding

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Ethics committee/IRB of the University of Babylon gave ethical approval for this work under the reference number BMS/0231/016.

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All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors