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Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of pediatric gastroenteritis associated with new viral agents

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Abstract

A 22-month study (2008-2009) was carried out on 273 patients (average age 40 months), admitted with gastroenteritis to the Pediatric Unit of L. Sacco University Hospital in Milan, Italy. Fecal samples were investigated for rotavirus (HRV), norovirus (NoV), adenovirus (AdV), sapovirus (SaV), enterovirus, astrovirus and bocavirus (HBoV). A 38.3% incidence of infection was observed for HRV, followed by NoV (16.2%), HBoV (13.6%), AdV (2.6%) and SaV (0.6%). Clinical evaluation of 109 gastroenteritis patients with confirmed diagnosis was graded by the Ruska-Vesikari scoring system, showing vomiting (78%), diarrhea (96%) and fever (80%). A total of 25 NoV-positive samples were selected for nucleotide sequence analysis. The severity of AdV-associated infection was lower than for NoV, HRV and HBoV. These latter viruses caused similar symptoms that were indistinguishable using clinical information. NoV, HRV and HBoV were often present as mixed infections (13.1%). Sequencing of NoV-positive samples allowed identification of GII.2, GII.3 and GII.4 2006 variants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microbiology Unit University Hospital L. Sacco, Milan, Italy

    Sara Giordana Rimoldi, Cristina Pagani, Lisa Lucia Chenal, Nadia Zanchetta, Alessandra Lombardi & Maria Rita Gismondo

  2. Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

    Fabrizio Stefani

  3. Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Public Health, ISS, Rome, Italy

    Ilaria Di Bartolo & Franco Maria Ruggeri

  4. Paediatric Unit University Hospital L. Sacco, Milan, Italy

    Dario Di lillo & Gian Vincenzo Zuccotti

  5. L. Sacco Hospital, G.B. Grassi Street 74, Milan, Italy

    Sara Giordana Rimoldi

Authors
  1. Sara Giordana Rimoldi
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  2. Fabrizio Stefani
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  3. Cristina Pagani
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  4. Lisa Lucia Chenal
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  5. Nadia Zanchetta
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  6. Ilaria Di Bartolo
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  7. Alessandra Lombardi
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  8. Franco Maria Ruggeri
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  9. Dario Di lillo
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  10. Gian Vincenzo Zuccotti
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  11. Maria Rita Gismondo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sara Giordana Rimoldi.

Additional information

R. S. Giordana and S. Fabrizio equally contributed to the work.

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Rimoldi, S.G., Stefani, F., Pagani, C. et al. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of pediatric gastroenteritis associated with new viral agents. Arch Virol 156, 1583–1589 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-011-1037-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-011-1037-5

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