Epidemiology of astrovirus infection in young children hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis in Melbourne, Australia, over a period of four consecutive years, 1995 to 1998.

ABSTRACT: The incidence of astrovirus infection in children less than 5 years of age hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis in Melbourne, Australia, from 1995 to 1998 was determined. Astrovirus was detected in 40 of 449 specimens tested by Northern hybridization, and astrovirus infection was confirmed by reverse transcription-PCR with or without culture in CaCO-2 cells. This represented 3.0% (40 of 1, 327) of all children tested for enteric pathogens, including viral, bacterial, and parasitic pathogens, over the survey period. The incidences of astrovirus infection in each year were 4.4% (1995), 2. 2% (1996), 3.9% (1997), and 1.4% (1998). In 1995 and 1997, the incidences of astrovirus infection were greater than the incidence of infection with all individual bacterial pathogens and were either grea

SUBMITTER: Mustafa H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC86338 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature