BACKGROUND: The severity of childhood gastroenteritis is generally believed to be age-related rather than aetiology-related. Rotavirus-induced gastroenteritis is more severe than gastroenteritis caused by other enteric pathogens and is also age-related. We thus addressed the question of whether the increased severity of rotavirus-induced gastroenteritis is related to age or to features intrinsic to the agent. STUDY DESIGN: In this multicentre, hospital-based, prospective survey, we evaluated the severity of diarrhoea in rotavirus-positive and rotavirus-negative children up to 4 years of age. Severity was assessed with a score in four groups of age-matched children. RESULTS: Rotavirus was detected in 381 of 911 children. Disease severity was evaluated in 589 cases for which clinical data were complete. The rotavirus-positive and rotavirus-negative groups differed with regards to diarrhoea duration, hospital stay, degree of dehydration and the number of episodes of vomiting. Gastroenteritis was more severe in rotavirus-positive than in rotavirus-negative children. In contrast, none of the main severity parameters differed in the four age groups, irrespective of the presence of rotavirus. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide the evidence that aetiology and not age determines diarrhoeal severity. The demonstration that diarrhoea was more severe in rotavirus-positive children supports the need for a rotavirus vaccine and for studies that address the duration of vaccine protection.
BACKGROUND: The severity of childhood gastroenteritis is generally believed to be age-related rather than aetiology-related. Rotavirus-induced gastroenteritis is more severe than gastroenteritis caused by other enteric pathogens and is also age-related. We thus addressed the question of whether the increased severity of rotavirus-induced gastroenteritis is related to age or to features intrinsic to the agent. STUDY DESIGN: In this multicentre, hospital-based, prospective survey, we evaluated the severity of diarrhoea in rotavirus-positive and rotavirus-negative children up to 4 years of age. Severity was assessed with a score in four groups of age-matched children. RESULTS: Rotavirus was detected in 381 of 911 children. Disease severity was evaluated in 589 cases for which clinical data were complete. The rotavirus-positive and rotavirus-negative groups differed with regards to diarrhoea duration, hospital stay, degree of dehydration and the number of episodes of vomiting. Gastroenteritis was more severe in rotavirus-positive than in rotavirus-negative children. In contrast, none of the main severity parameters differed in the four age groups, irrespective of the presence of rotavirus. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide the evidence that aetiology and not age determines diarrhoeal severity. The demonstration that diarrhoea was more severe in rotavirus-positive children supports the need for a rotavirus vaccine and for studies that address the duration of vaccine protection.
Authors: Guillermo M Ruiz-Palacios; Irene Pérez-Schael; F Raúl Velázquez; Hector Abate; Thomas Breuer; SueAnn Costa Clemens; Brigitte Cheuvart; Felix Espinoza; Paul Gillard; Bruce L Innis; Yolanda Cervantes; Alexandre C Linhares; Pío López; Mercedes Macías-Parra; Eduardo Ortega-Barría; Vesta Richardson; Doris Maribel Rivera-Medina; Luis Rivera; Belén Salinas; Noris Pavía-Ruz; Jorge Salmerón; Ricardo Rüttimann; Juan Carlos Tinoco; Pilar Rubio; Ernesto Nuñez; M Lourdes Guerrero; Juan Pablo Yarzábal; Silvia Damaso; Nadia Tornieporth; Xavier Sáez-Llorens; Rodrigo F Vergara; Timo Vesikari; Alain Bouckenooghe; Ralf Clemens; Béatrice De Vos; Miguel O'Ryan Journal: N Engl J Med Date: 2006-01-05 Impact factor: 91.245
Authors: T V Murphy; P M Gargiullo; M S Massoudi; D B Nelson; A O Jumaan; C A Okoro; L R Zanardi; S Setia; E Fair; C W LeBaron; M Wharton; J R Livengood; J R Livingood Journal: N Engl J Med Date: 2001-02-22 Impact factor: 91.245
Authors: M Frühwirth; U Heininger; B Ehlken; G Petersen; B Laubereau; I Moll-Schüler; I Mutz; J Forster Journal: Pediatr Infect Dis J Date: 2001-08 Impact factor: 2.129
Authors: J Z Mrukowicz; B Krobicka; M Duplaga; K Kowalska-Duplaga; J Domañski; H Szajewska; M Kantecki; F Iwañczak; T Pytrus Journal: Acta Paediatr Suppl Date: 1999-01
Authors: Vincent P Hsu; Mary Allen Staat; Nancy Roberts; Carla Thieman; David I Bernstein; Joseph Bresee; Roger I Glass; Umesh D Parashar Journal: Pediatrics Date: 2005-01 Impact factor: 7.124
Authors: Andrea Lo Vecchio; Ilaria Liguoro; Jorge Amil Dias; James A Berkley; Chris Boey; Mitchell B Cohen; Sylvia Cruchet; Eduardo Salazar-Lindo; Samir Podder; Bhupinder Sandhu; Philip M Sherman; Toshiaki Shimizu; Alfredo Guarino Journal: Vaccine Date: 2017-02-16 Impact factor: 3.641
Authors: T Christopher Mast; Carla DeMuro-Mercon; Claudia M Kelly; Leigh Ellen Floyd; Emmanuel B Walter Journal: BMC Pediatr Date: 2009-02-06 Impact factor: 2.125