A clinical and epidemiological study of viral gastroenteritis in Mexican children

Abstract

Infectious gastroenteritis is one of the most common illnesses among children and is caused by many etiological agents; however, viruses are responsible for 50 to 75% of all cases. A laboratory-based study was carried out from 2005–2006 aiming to describe epidemiological aspects of rotavirus (RV), astrovirus, and adenovirus associated with gastroenteritis in Mexican children. Children younger than 5 years with acute diarrhea from four clinics and eight daycare centers were studied. The presence of RV was determined using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) with silver staining. Negative samples were further tested for RV, adenovirus, and astrovirus using immunoassays. A total of 727 children were studied. The RV prevalence by PAGE was 56.8% (413/727). Out of 314 samples that were PAGE negative, 18.1% (57/314) were positive for any virus; the prevalence for the specific viruses was 9.5% (30/314); for RV, 4.4% (14/314); for astrovirus; 3.8% (12/314); for adenovirus, and 0.3% (1/314) with RV and astrovirus mixed infection. Viruses are responsible of more than 60% of acute diarrhea diseases among Mexican children.