Detection of adenoviruses in children with severe acute gastroenteritis in the City of Belém, Pará State, Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Gastroenteritis is one of the major childhood diseases worldwide. Epidemiological studies have detected adenoviruses in 2% to 22% of cases of acute infantile diarrhea in hospitals and outpatient clinics. Adenoviruses are responsible for 50% of cases of pediatric intestinal intussusception. The aim of this study was to detect the presence of these viruses in stool samples from 380 children younger than 3 years old with symptoms of gastroenteritis in the City of Belém, Pará State, Brazil, with an emphasis on serotype 40/41. The samples came from a surveillance study conducted by the hospital and outpatient clinic of the Instituto Evandro Chagas from March to September 2003. We used EIA and an immunochromatographic technique for screening, and cell culture and PCR for typing. Adenoviruses were found in 6.3% (24/380) of the samples. Enteric adenoviruses were present in 3.7% (14/380) of tested samples, which corresponded to 58.3% (14/24) of positive cases. This demonstrated that this virus is the cause of the majority cases of gastroenteritis in children. The most sensitive technique was PCR, which was able to define the serotypes of five samples that were not defined by other methods. Enteric adenoviruses predominated in the age group of 18-24 months, and the highest number of cases occurred in March 2003. The average time of hospitalization was approximately six days. The results of this study confirm the circulation of the virus in Belém, demonstrating the importance of adenoviruses as a cause of gastroenteritis in children.