Identification of viral agents causing gastroenteritis among children in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

BACKGROUND

Gastroenteritis is one of the most common diseases affecting children and rotavirus is the major etiological agent worldwide. Although the role of rotaviruses as a causal agent of gastroenteritis has been previously established in Argentina, little is known about the frequency of other gastrointestinal viruses.

OBJECTIVES

The present study was designed to determine the frequency of calicivirus in comparison with rotavirus, astrovirus and adenovirus type 40/41 in our country.

STUDY DESIGN

Sixty six diarrhea patients (10%) =3 years of age, were randomly selected from a previous series (9/1997-8/1998) and virus frequency determined using RT-PCR and/or commercial EIAs. In addition, we sequenced the RNA polymerase region of calicivirus-positive samples to characterize Argentine strains.

RESULTS

We detected at least one viral agent in 48.5% (32/66) of the patients. Rotavirus, calicivirus, astrovirus, and enteric adenovirus were found in 17, 16, 5, and 2 children, respectively. Sequence analysis of 4 calicivirus positive samples allowed us to identify a strain clustered to Lorsdale virus, one strain clustered with Manchester virus and two strains clustered with London/92 virus.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data suggest that calicivirus and rotavirus are major agents of gastroenteritis in children younger than 3 years of age in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Unfortunately, viral diagnosis is seldom available in Argentine hospitals and coproculture results are mostly negative. Our data supports the need to develop rapid and sensitive tests for calicivirus diagnosis. The introduction of affordable viral diagnosis in our pediatric hospitals will improve patient care by reducing the unnecessary use of antibiotics.