ABSTRACT
Information concerning the disease burden of viral gastroenteritis has important implications for the use and monitoring the impact of public health policies. The present study, carried out in Córdoba city, Argentina, documents the epidemiology of severe viral diarrhea as well as the burden of viral gastrointestinal disease in the hospital children admission. A total of 133 stools were collected from hospitalized children (Town Childhood Hospital) suffering from acute diarrhea and studied for the presence of Group A rotavirus, astrovirus and adenovirus 40/41 by enzyme-immuno assay, between November 1997 and October 1998. Enteric viruses accounted for 42.1 percent of the total diarrheal cases analyzed. Group A rotaviruses, astroviruses, adenoviruses 40/41 and mixed infections were found in 35.3, 4.5, 1.5, and 0.8 percent studied specimens respectively. We estimated that 1 in 27 children in the 0-35 month-old cohort/range would be annually hospitalized for a viral gastroenteritis illness. The major impact on viral diarrhea lies on rotaviral infection, accouting for 84.0 percent of the viral diarrheal cases analyzed and for approximately one third of severe diarrheas requiring hospital admission in Córdoba City, Argentina
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Infant , Child, Preschool , Diarrhea/virology , Gastroenteritis/epidemiology , Acute Disease , Adenovirus Infections, Human/epidemiology , Argentina/epidemiology , Gastroenteritis/virology , Hospitalization , Immunoenzyme Techniques , Astroviridae Infections/epidemiology , Rotavirus Infections/epidemiology , Seasons , Severity of Illness IndexABSTRACT
El objetivo del presente estudio fue documentar la frequencia de agentes virales clásicos y emergentes y su asociación etiológica con el síndrome diarreico en pacientes transplantados renales en Córdoba, Argentina. Se estudiaron 42 muestras fecales de individuos transplantados renales, internados y ambulatórios, con o sin diarrea, todas obtenidas después del transplante. Los pacientes se encontraban bajo triple terapia inmunosupresora con esteroides, azatioprina y ciclosporina ó tacrolimus. Los resultados obtenidos revelaron la presencia de ratovirus grupo A y picobirnavirus en tres de nueve pacientes con síndrome diarreico severo (33.33 porciento), en ausencia de otros patógenos bacterianos entéricos. La presencia de estos agentes virales se correlacionó con niveles elevados de ciclosporina en sangue (> 290 ng/ml) o bien con un tratamiento inmunosupresor prolongado. En contraste, no se detectó ningún virus en la etiología de cuadros diarreicos severos en pacientes transplantados renales.