Prevalence of diarrhea viruses in hospitalized children in Hong Kong in 2008

Abstract

A total of 209 stool samples were collected from pediatric patients admitted for acute gastroenteritis in a hospital in Hong Kong, during an 8-month period from January to August 2008, and were tested for the presence of rotavirus, norovirus, sapovirus, adenovirus, and astrovirus using a multiplex RT-PCR assay. The most common virus was rotavirus group A (59 of 209, 28%, mainly serotypes G1, G2, G3, and G9), followed by norovirus group II (48 of 209, 23%), adenovirus (7 of 209, 3%, serotypes 2, 3, and 41), and sapovirus (2 of 209, 1%). Interestingly, none of the specimens in this study were positive for astrovirus. One sample was found to have a dual infection with both norovirus group II and adenovirus. The results support the importance of norovirus as a causative agent of diarrhea in children, which may be underestimated by the current routine diagnostic testing.

Etiology and epidemiology of viral diarrhea in children under the age of five hospitalized in Tianjin, China

“…The proportion of positive samples was higher than or equal to previous reports from different countries [9,15]. RV was the most frequently detected infection at 27.94%, which was similar to the level of infection in Hong Kong [16] and India [17]. However, the level of infection was lower than that in other studies, which reported infections up to 54.0% [7,18], and higher than that in France (17.3%) [15].…”

Circulation of a Novel Pattern of Infections by Enteric Adenovirus Serotype 41 among Children below 5 Years of Age in Kolkata, India

“…Epidemiological studies of adenovirus in infants and children with acute gastroenteritis have shown its importance in both developed and developing countries (6,10,11,17,18,23,31,39,43,49). Next to rotavirus, enteric adenovirus has been shown to be the most common cause of pediatric viral gastroenteritis in Kolkata (31).…”

Comprehensive Review of Human Sapoviruses

“…In general, the severity of sapovirus gastroenteritis is milder than that for rotavirus and norovirus (Table 5) (185,186,191). Gastroenteritis symptoms are usually self-limiting, and patients usually recover within a couple of days; however, the symptoms, severity, and duration of disease are dependent on the individual, and sapovirus infection sometimes leads to hospitalization (22,152,167,(193)(194)(195)(196)(197)(198)(199)(200)(201)(202)(203)(204)(205)(206)(207)(208)(209). Mortality is rare, but it was reported from outbreaks that occurred in a long-term-care facility for the elderly (104).…”