Detection of rotavirus and other enteropathogens in children hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis in Havana, Cuba

Worldwide prevalence and genotype distribution of human astrovirus in gastroenteritis patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

AIM

Human astrovirus (HAstV) is an important causative agent of gastroenteritis in humans, which mainly infects young children and the elderly. The goal of this study was to conduct a meta-analytic review of the prevalence of HAstV amongst patients with gastroenteritis, and to shed light on the connection between HAstV infection and gastroenteritis.

METHODS

Systematic literature searches were conducted to identify all potentially relevant studies recorded up to April 8th, 2022. For study weighting, the inverse variance method was employed and the random-effects model was applied to evaluate data. For case-control studies, the pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated to establish the relationship between HAstV infection and gastroenteritis.

RESULTS

Among 302423 gastroenteritis patients from 69 different countries, the overall pooled prevalence of HAstV infection was 3.48% (95% CI: 3.11%-3.89%). Case-control approach was used in 39 investigations, and the overall prevalence of HAstV infection among the 11342 healthy controls was 2.01% (95% CI: 1.40%-2.89%). Gastroenteritis and HAstV infection were associated with a pooled OR of 2.16 (95% CI: 1.72-2.71; P < 0.0001; I² = 33.7%). The most commonly found HAstV genotypes in gastroenteritis patients were HAstV1 (62.18%), HAstV7 (33.33%), and HAstV-MLB1 (17.43%).

CONCLUSION

The frequency of HAstV infection was the highest in children under the age of five, and in developing countries. The prevalence rate of HAstV was not influenced by gender. Semi-nested and nested RT-PCR were highly sensitive assays for detecting HAstV infections.

Prevalence and genetic diversity of viral gastroenteritis viruses in children younger than 5 years of age in Guatemala, 2014-2015

BACKGROUND

Acute diarrhea is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in children and is associated with approximately 500,000 deaths/year globally. Rotavirus and norovirus are leading causes of acute diarrhea accounting for more than half of this burden.

OBJECTIVE/STUDY DESIGN

To determine the prevalence and genotype distribution of acute diarrhea caused by rotavirus, norovirus, sapovirus and astrovirus among children <5 years of age at two departments in Guatemala from January 2014 to December 2015, we tested 471 stool specimens (202 samples from hospitalized children and 269 samples from children in ambulatory clinics) by real-time reverse transcription-PCR and genotyped positive samples.

RESULTS

Rotavirus was detected in 20.4%, norovirus in 18.5%, sapovirus in 7% and astrovirus in 4.2% of the samples. Co-infection of rotavirus and norovirus was found in 2.6% of the samples. Most norovirus (87.4%) and rotavirus (81.3%) infections were detected in children in the 6-12 months age group. The proportion of patients with rotavirus (34%) and norovirus (23%) was higher in hospitalized patients compared to ambulatory patients, whereas the prevalence of sapovirus and astrovirus was similar in both settings. Of the 40 genotyped norovirus strains, 62.5% were GII.4 and 15% GII.3. Sapovirus genotypes included GI.1 (15.4%), GII.2 (15.4%), GII.5 (38.5%) and GIV.1 (30.8%).

CONCLUSIONS

Our data demonstrate that in 2014-2015, gastroenteritis viruses account for 50% of acute diarrhea in children younger than 5 years of age in Guatemala, highlighting the importance of continuous surveillance to guide impact of the current rotavirus vaccine and formulation of future norovirus vaccines.