Pattern of shedding of two noncultivable viruses in stools of newborn babies

Abstract

Noncultivable viruses have been associated with diarrhea affecting newborn babies in obstetric hospital nurseries. Persisting infection in a special care nursery in Melbourne, Australia, permitted a study of the pattern of excretion of these viruses. Ten babies admitted to the nursery within 2 hr of birth were randomly selected for prospective study. Feces were collected daily for 14 days and were examined by electron microscopy. All ten babies excreted detectable amounts of duovirus (rotavirus, HRVL agent, IGV) for at least 1 day. Age at onset of excretion varied from 2 to 13 days. Eight of the ten babies developed diarrhea. Excretion of duovirus preceded the onset of diarrhea by 12--72 hr and persisted for at least 3 days. Seven of the ten babies also excreted detectable amounts of 28-nm virus-like particle for 3--8 days. The identity of this particle is unknown. Morphologically it resembles Norwalk agent and "astrovirus." Excretion of this 28-nm particle coincided with symptoms of diarrhea in four babies, all of whom were also excreting duovirus. It is concluded that most newborn babies admitted to a nursery where duovirus infection is endemic will excrete this virus at least once during the first 2 weeks of life. Excretion of virus particles will either precede development of diarrhea or be asymptomatic. Selective isolation of babies with diarrhea is thus unlikely to control spread of duovirus infection within a hospital nursery.

Rapid screening test for the diagnosis of rotavirus infection

“…Virus shedding begins on days 2, 3, and 4 following infection and lasts for approximately 6 days (7). The duration of virus excretion in infants has been found to vary from 1 to 9 days (2,4). Electropherotyping (distribution of the segmented RNA genome of the rotavirus on polyacrylamide gels) has become an important laboratory and epidemiological procedure for the characterization of rotaviral strains (8,10,11).…”

Serotypic characterization of rotaviruses derived from asymptomatic human neonatal infections

“…A sharp contrast between the asymptomatic or mild infection in neonates with low levels of virus excretion and the severe diarrheal illness in older hospitalized children, who frequently excrete virus in high concentrations, has been documented (9). Much attention has been paid to the epidemiological features of rotaviruses from neonates in nurseries and to the possible factors involved in the unique rotavirus-neonate ecosystems, including maternal antibody (9,17,35,38,(53)(54)(55)(56)(57), soluble and cellular components in breast milk (35,38,58), and birth weight of the neonate (9,11,12,39,59). However, because of the fastidious growth characteristics of neonatal rotaviruses in vitro, they were not serotyped.…”

Neuere Vorstellungen zur Virus-Gastroenteritis

“…Unnamed particles identified in Glasgow (25), and Melbourne (59), closely resemble the Canadian viruses. Preliminary data suggest that minirotavirus associated gastroenteritis is more prevalent in wintertime, and tends to be a greater threat in closed populations (16,44,59). We have observed a minimum incubation period of two days in close contacts, and in a small series of 20 affected infants vomiting and/or diarrhoea occurred in almost all, usually without fever.…”

“…These clinical features are similar to those associated with rotavirus infection (32,33), except in the absence of fever in most of our patients. Cameron et al (59), have commented on the apparent lack of serious symptoms in affected newborn, infants, but the significance of this is unclear.…”