Alqurayn Ahmed K, Yousef Hisham M, Jawad Hameed H Al, Al Rashed Abdullatif S, Obeid Obeid E, Alkharsah Khaled R
Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Laboratory, Almoosa Specialist Hospital, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi J Med Med Sci. 2025 Apr-Jun;13(2):114-123. doi: 10.4103/sjmms.sjmms_690_24. Epub 2025 Apr 21.
Infectious gastroenteritis is one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide. Multiplex molecular assays enable simultaneous and rapid detection of various gastrointestinal pathogens, but it has not been used to report the prevalence of such infections from Saudi Arabia.
To determine the viral, bacterial, and parasitic pathogens implicated in infectious diarrhea among children and adults and describe their seasonality in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
This is a retrospective study that included all documented results of syndromic PCR-based gastrointestinal pathogen panels between November 1, 2021, and March 31, 2023, from a private, tertiary healthcare hospital in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. Patients' demographics, detected pathogens, recorded temperature, and date of testing were retrieved from the hospital's electronic medical records.
A total of 606 non-duplicate samples were included. Viral, bacterial, and parasitic pathogens were detected in 24.8%, 50.5%, and 3.8% of samples, respectively. Of the total tested samples, norovirus (13.2%), and sapovirus (4.5%) were the two most commonly detected viruses. Enteropathogenic (21.6%) and enteroaggregative (9.7%) were the most commonly identified bacterial targets. The only parasitic pathogen detected was spp. (3.8%). Children aged ≤5 years tested positive for most pathogens, while elderly patients were mainly positive for diarrheagenic , , norovirus, and sapovirus. Most pathogens peaked during summer, while norovirus, spp., and spp. were predominantly seen in winter or spring. Bacterial pathogens were commonly co-detected with gastroenteritis viruses.
We describe variable distributions of viral, bacterial, and parasitic causes of diarrhea across age groups and seasons in Saudi Arabia. Viral and bacterial pathogens (specifically, norovirus and diarrheagenic ) are the predominant pathogens in infectious gastroenteritis.
感染性肠胃炎是全球最常见的疾病之一。多重分子检测能够同时快速检测多种胃肠道病原体，但尚未用于报告沙特阿拉伯此类感染的流行情况。
确定沙特阿拉伯胡富夫地区儿童和成人感染性腹泻中涉及的病毒、细菌和寄生虫病原体，并描述其季节性特征。
这是一项回顾性研究，纳入了2021年11月1日至2023年3月31日期间沙特阿拉伯胡富夫一家私立三级医疗医院基于症状性聚合酶链反应的胃肠道病原体检测的所有记录结果。从医院电子病历中检索患者的人口统计学信息、检测到的病原体、记录的体温和检测日期。
共纳入606份非重复样本。病毒、细菌和寄生虫病原体分别在24.8%、50.5%和3.8%的样本中被检测到。在所有检测样本中，诺如病毒（13.2%）和札如病毒（4.5%）是最常检测到的两种病毒。致病性大肠杆菌（21.6%）和聚集性大肠杆菌（9.7%）是最常鉴定出的细菌靶点。检测到的唯一寄生虫病原体是隐孢子虫属（3.8%）。5岁及以下儿童大多数病原体检测呈阳性，而老年患者主要是产志贺毒素大肠杆菌、弯曲杆菌、诺如病毒和札如病毒检测呈阳性。大多数病原体在夏季达到高峰，而诺如病毒、隐孢子虫属和贾第虫属主要出现在冬季或春季。细菌性病原体常与肠胃炎病毒共同检测到。
我们描述了沙特阿拉伯不同年龄组和季节腹泻的病毒、细菌和寄生虫病因的不同分布情况。病毒和细菌性病原体（特别是诺如病毒和产志贺毒素大肠杆菌）是感染性肠胃炎的主要病原体。
