Reovirus-like agent as a cause of nosocomial diarrhea in infants.

Surveillance for nosocomial diarrhea due to a reovirus-like agent was maintained on the pediatric wards of a large metropolitan hospital in January and February, 1976, during a large community outbreak of that illness. During this period, 30 (27%) of 111 children under surveillance were admitted for dehydration secondary to diarrhea; 21 (70%) of these 30 children had RLA in stool samples obtained at admission. Ten (17%) of the 60 children admitted without diarrhea, hence at risk of acquiring nosocomial RLA infection, contracted the illness. With human RLA as an antigen, no hospital personnel had serologic (complement fixation test) evidence of infection. Early attempts to control the diarrhea at home and in the outpatient department by the use of oral fluid rehydration, isolation of patients with severe symptoms requiring hospitalization, and strict attention by hospital personnel to hand washing between examination of patients may limit nosocomial spread of the disease.