On a Multinational Assessment of Rotavirus Disease in Europe

Rotaviruses were discovered in the 1960s in animals and in the 1970s in humans; the latter discovery was made by an intrepid group who performed duodenal biopsies on children with acute gastroenteritis (AGE) [1]. By the late 1970s, data already clearly indicated that rotavirus was the cause of the annual winter peak of AGE affecting young children, as well as a frequent cause of severe gastroenteritis in various animal species (e.g., [2-5]). Use of the retrospectroscope clarified or left as tantalizing the suggestion that rotaviruses were the cause of the annual "winter vom-