Frequency and seasonal distribution of adenovirus and rotavirus in children diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis: A single centre experience

Abstract

Aim: We aimed to investigate the relationship between age, gender, and season with respect to the frequency of rotavirus and adenovirus antigens in stool specimens obtained from children one month to 18 years of age who were diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis. Materials and Methods: The records of stool specimen analyses for 1960 patients with diagnosis of acute gastroenteritis at our hospital from January 2017 to August 2022 were retrospectively examined. The patient's admission year, season, gender, age, and stool viral antigen test results were retrospectively analyzed from the file records. Results: Viral antigen was detected in stool specimen in 364 (13.8%) of the patients included in the study, while 92 (4.7%) of them were rotavirus and 180 (9.1%) were adenoviruses. We found that both rotavirus and adenovirus were most common in the children one month-2 years of age. In our study, rotavirus was most commonly detected in December and winter, while adenovirus was detected in March and spring. Twenty-six (28.2%) patients with rotavirus gastroenteritis and 68 (37.7%) patients with adenovirus gastroenteritis were hospitalized and treated. Conclusion: Our study showed now that rotavirus and adenovirus, which are the agents of viral gastroenteritis, are seen at a substantial rate. Especially in children under the two years of age, the frequency of detection of viral agents is higher. Enteric adenovirus and rotavirus were detected more frequently in winter and spring. We suggest that viral gastroenteritis agents should be considered and examined in children with suspected gastroenteritis.