Impact of Rotavirus Vaccine Introduction and Postintroduction Etiology of Diarrhea Requiring Hospital Admission in Haydom, Tanzania, a Rural African Setting

BACKGROUND: No data are available on the etiology of diarrhea requiring hospitalization after rotavirus vaccine introduction in Africa. The monovalent rotavirus vaccine was introduced in Tanzania on 1 January 2013. We performed a vaccine impact and effectiveness study as well as a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)–based etiology study at a rural Tanzanian hospital. METHODS: We obtained data on admissions among children <5 years to Haydom Lutheran Hospital between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2015 and estimated the impact of vaccine introduction on all-cause diarrhea admissions. We then performed a vaccine effectiveness study using the test-negative design. Finally, we tested diarrheal specimens during 2015 by qPCR for a broad range of enteropathogens and calculated pathogen-specific attributable fractions (AFs). RESULTS: Vaccine introduction was associated with a 44.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 17.6%–97.4%) reduction in diarrhea admissions in 2015, as well as delay of the rotavirus season. The effectiveness of 2 doses of vaccine was 74.8% (95% CI, –8.2% to 94.1%) using an enzyme immunoassay–based case definition and 85.1% (95% CI, 26.5%–97.0%) using a qPCR-based case definition. Among 146 children enrolled in 2015, rotavirus remained the leading etiology of diarrhea requiring hospitalization (AF, 25.8% [95% CI, 24.4%–26.7%]), followed by heat-stable enterotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (AF, 18.4% [95% CI, 12.9%–21.9%]), Shigella/enteroinvasive E. coli (AF, 14.5% [95% CI, 10.2%–22.8%]), and Cryptosporidium (AF, 7.9% [95% CI, 6.2%–9.3%]). CONCLUSIONS: Despite the clear impact of vaccine introduction in this setting, rotavirus remained the leading etiology of diarrhea requiring hospitalization. Further efforts to maximize vaccine coverage and improve vaccine performance in these settings are warranted.