All issues > Volume 37(2); 1994

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1994;37(2):205-211. Published online February 15, 1994.

Role of Adenovirus in Diarrheal Children

Gyung Ok GO Yu¹, Young Bae YB Moon¹, Dong Rak DR Choi¹, Duk Ha DH Kim¹, Hae Ran HR Lee¹, Chong Young CY Park¹, Hee Jung HJ Kang², Kyu Man KM Lee²

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Seoul, Korea
²Department of Clinical Pathology, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

In order to investigate the role of adenovirus in diarrheal children, we evaluated 907 children with diarrhea and 193 children without diarrhea for a 22-month. Stools were tested for group A rotavirus antigen and for adenovirus types 40/41 (Ad 40/41) by using ELISA, cell technique and indirect immunofluorescent method. Adenovirus was detected in 10.1% of the diarrheal children and 3.1% of the non-diarrheal children. Ad40/41 was detected in 4.85% of the diarrheal children. Other nonenteric adenovirus was detected in 5.29% of the diarrheal children. In addition, 24% of the adenovirus-infected children excreted rotavirus simultaneously. Rotavirus was found in 57.1% of the diarrheal patients. Among the diarrheal children, 88% of those with adenovirus were younger than 24 months. Although peaks of adenovirus infection were detected in July and Autumn in the study, there is no apparent seasonal trend with adenovirus. The average duration of admission caused by adenoviral infection was 4.9% days and 88% of the cases accompanied by fever. Stool occult blood test revealed opsitive reaction in 66.3% of the cases and serum aminotransferase activities transiently elevated in 5.4% of the cases. Diarrhea with more than 10 stools per day, vomiting, or fever in adenovirus-infected dhildren were similar with ratavirus, where as the first two manifestions were associated with confection of rotavirus and adenovirus. Nine out of 92 cases(9.8%) of the gastroenteritis caused by Adenovirus revealed intussusception. We conclude that Ad40/41 is an important cause of diarrhea among infants and children, and non-enteric adenovirus is considered to be a cause of diarrhea, but their role in diarrheal children should be further studied.

Keywords :Adenovirus, Gastroenteritis