[Detection of an agent similar to rotavirus in infantile gastroenteritis].

The etiology of nonbacterial enterovirus infections in children was studied in autumn and winter under conditions of focal outbreaks in Moscow hospitals. Electron microscopy revealed a reovirus-like agent in concentrated suspensions of feces collected in the acute period of the disease from children suffering from diarrhea. Examinations of paired sera from the patients by the CF test with the antigen of Nebraska calf disease virus established significant rises in antibody titers in 68.3% of cases. The results permit a conclusion that in this country a virus of acute gastroenteritis of children (viral gastroenteritis A) is circulating, causing outbreaks of the disease. The virus belongs to the genus Rotavirus of the Reoviridae family.