Premium
A Prospective Study of Rotavirus Infections in Neonatal and Maternity Wards
Author(s) -
TUFVESSON B.,
POLBERGER S.,
SVANBERG L.,
SVEGER T.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1986.tb10186.x
Subject(s) - medicine , rotavirus , pediatrics , diarrhea , rotavirus infections , reoviridae , obstetrics
. The occurrence and symptomatology of rotavirus infections was studied at three maternity wards and one neonatal unit. Rotavirus was identified in 12.7% of 553 infants and 1.3% of 542 mothers at the maternity wards. Infections were more frequent in a mixed obstetric/ gynecology ward than in the pure obstetric wards. Only 10% of the infants had symptomatic infections. Subgroups of rotavirus was determined in 41 infants: 22 of subgroup I and 19 of subgroup II, which is the subgroup accounting for the majority of childhood gastroenteritis. Rotavirus was found in faecal samples from 37% of the infants at the neonatal unit during an eight‐month survey. A seasonal variation with most infections during colder months was seen. Subgroup determination was possible in 29 cases, 14 subgroup I and 15 subgroup II. Fifteen per cent of the infections demonstrated diarrheal symptoms. No significant difference among other clinical data registered was seen among rotavirus infected compared to the non‐infected infants. We conclude that neonatal rotavirus infections occur as an endemic infection at our maternity wards possibly combined with infections due to external sources of virus in mixed wards and neonatal units