Objective: Enteric viruses are a common cause of acute gastroenteritis with high mortality and morbidity frequently encountered in children under five-years in developed and developing countries. In our study, we aimed to investigate the incidence of rotavirus, enteric adenovirus and norovirus in children younger than 5-years with complaints of acute gastroenteritis.

Material and Methods: We investigated rotavirus, enteric adenovirus and norovirus GI/GII antigen positivity in stoolspecimens of 982 children who applied to children’s polyclinic for acute gastroenteritis between 2012 and 2014 by ELISA method.

Results: In the samples, viral antigen positivity was determined as 38.0% (n=373) in a total of 982 samples. Rotavirus, adenovirus and norovirus positivities were detected in 51.7% (n=193), 22.5% (n=84) and 19.3% (n=72) of the samples, respectively. Rotavirus-adenovirus, rotavirus-norovirus and adenovirus-norovirus co-positivity were found in 12 (3.2%), 9 (2.4%) and 3 (0.8%) of the samples, respectively. Although it has been observed that hospital admission is high due to acute gastroenteritis in children between 6-36 months, viral incidence is especially higher in children between 6-24 months. The incidence of norovirus and enteric adenovirus were higher between 6-36 months, while the incidence of rotavirus was higher between 6-47 months. In terms of seasonal distribution, rotavirus infections were highly prevalent in winter/spring, while adenovirus and norovirus infections were more frequent in winter and show epidemics throughout the year.

Conclusion: In conclusion, in the globalized world, the incidence of infections due to enteric adenovirus and norovirus as well as rotavirus is increasing steadily. In our country, there is a need to work on viral agents more in order to prevent unnecessary antibiotic use and to increase epidemiological data.