Rotavirus gastroenteritis in children: a clinical study of 125 patients in Hsin-Tien area

During a 2-year period from January 1988 to December 1989, 125 patients (68 boys, 57 girls), aged 30 days to 9 years, were diagnosed as rotavirus gastroenteritis at this hospital. Diagnosis was made by identification of the rotavirus antigen in stool samples by latex agglutination assay. Ninety-nine (79.2%) of them were under 2 years of age. The seasonal peak in incidence was from January to March. The most common clinical characteristics were watery diarrhea (100%), followed by vomiting (68.8%), fever (68.0%), cough (42.4%), rhinorrhea (17.6%), convulsions (6.4%) and moderate to severe dehydration (1.6%). Fecal occult blood was positive in 4 patients and fecal leukocytes were positive in one patient. Stool cultures revealed concomitant infections with enteropathogenic Escherichia coli in 4 patients. Of the 106 patients who underwent serum electrolyte examinations, serum sodium concentrations ranged from 135-145 meq/L in 81.9% (86/106) and serum potassium concentrations ranged from 3.5-5.0 meq/L in 86.8% (92/106). Leukocyte counts greater than 15,000/mm3 were found in 10.8% (13/120) of the patients. All 125 patients recovered from the diarrheal illness on follow-up. Our results showed a different seasonal distribution of this disease from that of a previous observation between 1983-1984 in Taipei City and provides original clinical information on rotavirus gastroenteritis in children living in an area of Taipei County. Using the simple and rapid latex agglutination assay, we can make early diagnosis of rotavirus gastroenteritis. Thus, early treatment and early isolation of patients to prevent nosocomial infection among hospitalized patients is possible.

The variability of 24-hour, overnight 12-hour, and morning one-hour, urinary albumin excretion in normoalbuminuric and microalbuminuric hospitalized diabetics

Albumin excretion rates (AER) of three consecutive days in different urine collection periods were measured in 7 hospitalized microalbuminuric diabetics (Ma DM) and 7 normoalbuminuric diabetics (Na DM). They were divided on the basis of an initial overnight urinary AER below or above 10 micrograms/min. The percentage of variation coefficients (% CV) of 24-hour, overnight 12-hour, and morning one-hour urine collections in Ma DM were 29.9%, 31.8% and 50.9%, respectively; while in Na DM group were 60.0%, 60.3% and 74.5%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the variation of AER among the three different urine collection procedures in both Ma DM and Na DM groups, or for similar urine collection between the two groups. The initial AER was compared to the subsequent two AERs in overnight 12-hour collection. The results were that three Ma DM patients had a subsequent AER below 10 micrograms/min and two Na DM patients had a subsequent AER above 10 micrograms/min on a single occasion. Therefore, the high variability of both groups would be expected to result in category changes. Multiple urine collections are needed to detect the early diabetic nephropathy for the hospitalized diabetics.

[Detection of cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA sequence in biopsy samples of cervical cancer]

Biopsy samples of the cervical cancer and cervicitis were analysed by HCMV-DNA hybridization method. The results indicated that HCMV-DNA was detected in 21 (36%) of 59 cervical cancer and 6 (21%) of 28 cervicitis specimens, using 32P-DNA probe containing transformation gene (14% of total genome) to hybridize. None of 25 cervical cancer and 19 cervicitis samples showed positive HCMV-DNA, using 32P-DNA probe without transformation gene (76% of total genome). The preliminary results show that the sequence of CMV transformation gene is present in about one third of cervical cancer and one fifth of cervicitis biopsy samples tested. This detection rate is lower than that of Taiwan Province and Africa, and slightly higher than that of the USA and Finland. The relation between the HCMV and cervical cancer is being further studied.