Exceptionally low rotavirus incidence in the Netherlands in 2013/14 in the absence of rotavirus vaccination

An unexpected drop in rotavirus (RV) detections was observed in the Netherlands in 2014, without RV vaccination. The estimated decrease in RV detections and gastroenteritis consultations in under five year-olds, in January-April 2014, compared to the same months in previous years, was 72% and 36%, respectively. The low birth rate, mild winter, high RV incidence in the previous year and the introduction of RV vaccination in neighbouring countries may have contributed to this decrease.

We describe an unexpected and large decrease in rotavirus (RV) detections in the Netherlands in the winter of 2013/14 compared to previous years. We corroborated this finding with our analysis of syndromic disease data on acute gastroenteritis (GE) in children under five years old, in which we also found a reduction and no sign of the usual peak in March. We believe that our findings are of great importance to the European public health community to alert other countries on the unusual RV epidemiology of the 2013/14 winter.