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Rotavirus and not age determines gastroenteritis severity in children: a hospital-based study

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Abstract

Background

The severity of childhood gastroenteritis is generally believed to be age-related rather than aetiology-related. Rotavirus-induced gastroenteritis is more severe than gastroenteritis caused by other enteric pathogens and is also age-related. We thus addressed the question of whether the increased severity of rotavirus-induced gastroenteritis is related to age or to features intrinsic to the agent.

Study design

In this multicentre, hospital-based, prospective survey, we evaluated the severity of diarrhoea in rotavirus-positive and rotavirus-negative children up to 4 years of age. Severity was assessed with a score in four groups of age-matched children.

Results

Rotavirus was detected in 381 of 911 children. Disease severity was evaluated in 589 cases for which clinical data were complete. The rotavirus-positive and rotavirus-negative groups differed with regards to diarrhoea duration, hospital stay, degree of dehydration and the number of episodes of vomiting. Gastroenteritis was more severe in rotavirus-positive than in rotavirus-negative children. In contrast, none of the main severity parameters differed in the four age groups, irrespective of the presence of rotavirus.

Conclusions

These data provide the evidence that aetiology and not age determines diarrhoeal severity. The demonstration that diarrhoea was more severe in rotavirus-positive children supports the need for a rotavirus vaccine and for studies that address the duration of vaccine protection.

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Abbreviations

EIA:

enzyme immunoassay

PCR:

polymerase chain reaction

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Acknowledgement

This work was financially supported by a grant from the Italian Ministry of Health, 4th AIDS Research Project, Program 50 D.28.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Pediatria, Università di Napoli “Federico II”, via S. Pansini 5, 80131, Naples, Italy

    Fabio Albano, Eugenia Bruzzese & Alfredo Guarino

  2. Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

    Antonino Bella

  3. Clinica Malattie Infettive Dipartimento Patologia Umana, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Antonio Cascio

  4. Istituto di Patologia Infettiva e Virologia, Palermo, Italy

    Lucina Titone

  5. Dipartimento di Igiene e Microbiologia, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Serenella Arista

  6. Pediatria ed Oncoematologia, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria, Parma, Italy

    Giancarlo Izzi

  7. Dipartimento Materno Infantile, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria, Parma, Italy

    Raffaele Virdis

  8. Ospedale Regina Margherita, Turin, Italy

    Paola Pecco

  9. Dipartimento di Pediatria, Università di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Nicola Principi

  10. Ospedale UO Pediatria, Ospedale dei Bambini “V. Buzzi”, Milan, Italy

    Massimo Fontana

Authors
  1. Fabio Albano
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  2. Eugenia Bruzzese
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  3. Antonino Bella
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  4. Antonio Cascio
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  7. Giancarlo Izzi
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  10. Nicola Principi
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  11. Massimo Fontana
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  12. Alfredo Guarino
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alfredo Guarino.

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Albano, F., Bruzzese, E., Bella, A. et al. Rotavirus and not age determines gastroenteritis severity in children: a hospital-based study. Eur J Pediatr 166, 241–247 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-006-0237-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-006-0237-6

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