شيوع عوامل ويروسي در كودكان مبتلا به گاستروانتريت حاد در استان مازندران 84-1383

Prevalence of Viral Agents among Children with Acute Gastroenteritis in Mazandaran Province, 2004-2005

Background and objective: Acute gastroenteritis is one of the important factors of morbidity and mortality among children and adults in developed and developing countries, and it is considered to be one of the six main reasons of death in the worlds. Materials and methods: This study was conducted with the aim of determining the extent of prevalence of Rotavirus, Astrovirus, Adenovirus and Calicivirus in instances of acute gastroenteritis in children in the Mazandaran Province. Totally 31 1 stool samples were collected from children under the age of 13 with Acute gastroenteritis who had visited in hospitals and health care centers in all part of province, during a period of one year. Specimens were examined for the presence of Rotavirus, Astrovirus and Adenovirus using the EIA method, and Calicivirus by RT-PCR method. Results: Our findings revealed that %66.9 of gastroenteritis cases were infected with viral agents. Among these, most occurrences were related to Rotavirus 61.4%, and the least amount to Calicivirus 0.3%. Also Astrovirus and Adenoviruses were identified in 2.9% and 2.3% of the cases, respectively. Seasonal distribution was observed in all examined agents; in such a way that %75.6 of gastroenteritis cases in winter were infected with viral agents especially with Rotavirus, whereas the least amount was observed in spring and summer. Conclusion: Statistical analyzes have indicated that viral gastroenteritis especially Rota-viral had the most number of occurrences in colder seasons especially in winter , and usually were more abundantly observed among younger children.