Adjusted Adenovirus Molecular Epidemiology Pattern among the Children with Acute Gastroenteritis: A Study from a Tropical Country

Abstract

Background: Acute viral gastroenteritis affects persons of all ages and is a common condition. The viral etiology of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) can induce long-term diarrhea in immunocompromised persons. Molecular techniques are extremely useful in the detection of viruses. In addition to functioning as diagnostic tools, molecular techniques are crucial for genetic characterization of co-circulating strains. The current gold standard is quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), which has been proved to be more specific than enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. However, there is growing concern that qPCR will result in a significant number of false negatives. Methods: The authors of this study investigate the function of intestinal adenoviruses in AGE and reassess the available data on enteric adenovirus molecular epidemiology in children in a tropical Indochina country. Results: The precise incidence rate in the studied tropical setting could be very high, according to the findings of this study. The adenovirus can be discovered in local children regardless of their age. Due to the high frequency of adenovirus in the stool samples of the examined children, regardless of AGE, the link between adenovirus and gastrointestinal disease in this condition should be thoroughly studied. Conclusion: While the most prevalent cause of AGE is adenovirus, there may be other infections that go unreported and misdiagnosed.