Rotavirus is the main cause of gastroenteritis and dehydration requiring hospitalization among infants and children. Despite the high diarrhea-related mortality rate, there are limited studies describing the prevalence of rotavirus in Turkey. The disease burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis in Turkey was assessed by active, prospective surveillance conducted in accordance with a modified World Health Organization generic protocol from 1 June 2005 through 1 June 2006. A total of 411 children aged <5 years who were hospitalized for gastroenteritis in 4 centers were enrolled. Rotavirus was identified in 53% of samples from the 338 children tested; the range for individual centers was 32.4%–67.4%. Overall, 83.8% of rotavirus-positive children were aged <2 years. Rotavirus gastroenteritis occurred year-round but peaked in the winter. G1P[8] was the most widely prevalent strain (76% of strains), followed by G2P[4] (12.8%). G9P[8] was reported in samples from 3.9% of children. These data support the need for a rotavirus vaccine in Turkey

There have been a limited number of studies on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) in children. In this study, we aimed to investigate the demographic, clinical, and laboratory features of COVID‐19 and to identify the role of mean platelet volume (MPV) in predicting the prognosis in children. A single‐center retrospective study, including 251 confirmed and 65 suspected COVID‐19 cases, was conducted between March 11, 2020, and December 11, 2020. In the confirmed COVID‐19 group, 48 (19.1%) patients were asymptomatic, 183 (72.9%) mild, 16 (6.4%) moderate, 1 (0.4%) severe, and 3 were (1.2%) critically ill. Confirmed COVID‐19 patients had significantly lower mean values of white blood cell (WBC), absolute neutrophil count, absolute lymphocyte count, platelet, and hemoglobin (p < .001). However, there was no significant difference in MPV levels between the two groups (p = .894). C‐reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin, fibrinogen, and NT‐pro‐BNP mean values were significantly lower in confirmed COVID‐19 cases than suspected cases (p < .001). A total of 55 (21.9%) patients required hospitalization due to COVID‐19, and MPV, WBC, CRP, procalcitonin, D‐dimer, and NT‐pro‐BNP were statistically higher in hospitalized patients than those in outpatients. The multivariate analysis of confirmed COVID‐19 cases according to the severity of disease showed that lymphopenia and higher levels of fibrinogen significantly associated with severe clinical symptoms. Decision tree analysis showed that the most powerful predictor of hospitalization due to COVID‐19 was the D‐dimer (p < .001). MPV values are not associated with COVID‐19 disease severity. However, MPV can be used with other parameters such as WBC, CRP, procalcitonin, D‐dimer, and NT‐pro‐BNP to predict hospitalization.