This study aimed to investigate the incidence of rotavirus and enteric bacterial infections
among children up to five years old with diarrhea living in suburban and rural areas in Kenya.
It was a cross-sectional descriptive study, and a total of 1060 diarrheal fecal specimens were
obtained from 722 children at the Kiambu County Hospital (KCH) located in a suburban area
and 338 children from the Mbita District Hospital (MDH) located in a rural part of western
Kenya, between August 2011 and December 2013. Of the 1060 isolates, group A rotavirus
(RVA) was detected in 29.6% (214/722) and 11.3% (38/338) fecal specimens from KCH and
MDH respectively. Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) was found to be the most
frequently isolated bacterial pathogens in both study areas (32.8% at KCH and 44.1% at
MDH). Two different mixed infection patterns (virus/bacteria and bacteria/bacteria) were
observed among patients. A significantly higher infection rate of rotavirus (17.6%, p = 0.001)
and DEC (10.5%, p = 0.007) were observed during the dry season. Our study describes that
in both suburban and rural settings in Kenya, rotavirus and DEC are the principal cause of
pediatric diarrhea and exhibited higher incidence during the dry season.