Serum transaminase elevation in children with rotavirus gastroenteritis: seven years' experience

Acute Infectious Gastroenteritis: The Causative Agents, Omics-Based Detection of Antigens and Novel Biomarkers

Acute infectious gastroenteritis (AGE) is among the leading causes of mortality in children less than 5 years of age worldwide. There are many causative agents that lead to this infection, with rotavirus being the commonest pathogen in the past decade. However, this trend is now being progressively replaced by another agent, which is the norovirus. Apart from the viruses, bacteria such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli and parasites such as Entamoeba histolytica also contribute to AGE. These agents can be recognised by their respective biological markers, which are mainly the specific antigens or genes to determine the causative pathogen. In conjunction to that, omics technologies are currently providing crucial insights into the diagnosis of acute infectious gastroenteritis at the molecular level. Recent advancement in omics technologies could be an important tool to further elucidate the potential causative agents for AGE. This review will explore the current available biomarkers and antigens available for the diagnosis and management of the different causative agents of AGE. Despite the high-priced multi-omics approaches, the idea for utilization of these technologies is to allow more robust discovery of novel antigens and biomarkers related to management AGE, which eventually can be developed using easier and cheaper detection methods for future clinical setting. Thus, prediction of prognosis, virulence and drug susceptibility for active infections can be obtained. Case management, risk prediction for hospital-acquired infections, outbreak detection, and antimicrobial accountability are aimed for further improvement by integrating these capabilities into a new clinical workflow.

Combating Childhood Infections in LMICs: evaluating the contribution of Big Data Big data, biomarkers and proteomics: informing childhood diarrhoeal disease management in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Despite efforts to reduce the global burden of childhood diarrhoea, 50% of all cases globally occur in children under five years in Low–Income and Middle- Income Countries (LMICs) and knowledge gaps remain regarding the aetiological diagnosis, introduction of diarrhoeal vaccines, and the role of environmental enteric dysfunction and severe acute malnutrition. Biomarkers may assist in understanding disease processes, from diagnostics, to management of childhood diarrhoea and the sequelae to vaccine development. Proteomics has the potential to assist in the identification of new biomarkers to understand the processes in the development of childhood diarrhoea and to aid in developing new vaccines. Centralised repositories that enable mining of large data sets to better characterise risk factors, the proteome of both the patient and the different diarrhoeal pathogens, and the environment, could inform patient management and vaccine development, providing a systems biological approach to address the burden of childhood diarrhoea in LMICs.

The Differences in Transaminase Enzyme Levels among Children with Acute Diarrhea due to Rotavirus and Non-rotavirus

BACKGROUND: Diarrhea is the particular disease that still affects children in Indonesia, with rotavirus being the most common etiology among children under 5 years old. Rotavirus and non-rotavirus diarrhea can spread to the extraintestinal and localized to the liver which causes liver cell damage, thus, the level of the glutamic oxaloacetic and glutamic pyruvic transaminase enzymes increases. AIM: The objective of the study was to prove that there are differences in serum levels of glutamic oxaloacetic and glutamic pyruvic transaminase in children with acute diarrhea due to rotavirus and non-rotavirus infection. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional design, the research subjects were children aged 6 months old until 60 months old with acute diarrhea in Denpasar Public Health Center, Sanglah, and Wangaya General Hospital within the period of March 2018 until March 2021. Statistical analysis used the Mann–Whitney. RESULTS: A total of 70 subjects were analyzed in this study. There were 24.28% of subjects with rotavirus. Each group had nearly the same degree of severity of 29.4% for rotavirus and 30.2% for non-rotavirus, with a median of serum levels of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) 47 (19–261) and glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) 25 (7–217). The results of this study showed that the median difference in aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels was not significant in rotavirus and non-rotavirus diarrhea (SGOT 45 [16–168], 32 [11–261], p = 0.077; (SGPT 22 [14–91], 18 [5–217], p = 0.12). CONCLUSION: This study concluded that there is a higher median level of SGOT and SGPT in children with acute diarrhea due to rotavirus infection compared to non-rotavirus infection, although it is not statistically significant.

Rotavirus infections in children in Turkey: A systematic review

We aimed to describe rotavirus epidemiology and clinical findings including extraintestinal manifestations in a setting that has yet to introduce rotavirus vaccines in the national immunization program. A literature search was performed by using the key words "Turkey" and "rotavirus." Ninety-eight studies published between 1987 and 2016 including epidemiological, clinical, and genotypical data at least 1 year duration were included. There were a total of 117 741 children with diarrhea and 26 566 rotavirus gastroenteritis with a median detection rate 31.8% (95% CI, 31.3-32.4) under 5 years of age. The rate of dehydration was 47% (95% CI, 23.4-91.6). There were 328 cases reported to be presenting with a various complication related to rotavirus in 2750 children in eight studies. The overall complication rate was 11.7% (95% CI, 10.7-12.9). The cumulative incidence of the most common genotypical combinations circulating worldwide was only 59.7% (G9[P8], 25%; G1[P8], 22%; G2[P4], 5.6%; G3[P8], 2.6%; G4[P8], 4.5%) whereas mixed, untypeable, and other genotypes were 2.4%, 15%, and 22.9% respectively. Our results point out the importance of rotavirus vaccination by presenting that rotavirus may cause severe complications besides severe gastroenteritis. The role of strain diversity in the variability of clinical presentations of rotavirus infections needs to be further investigated.

Rotavirus infection

Rotavirus infections are a leading cause of severe, dehydrating gastroenteritis in children <5 years of age. Despite the global introduction of vaccinations for rotavirus over a decade ago, rotavirus infections still result in >200,000 deaths annually, mostly in low-income countries. Rotavirus primarily infects enterocytes and induces diarrhoea through the destruction of absorptive enterocytes (leading to malabsorption), intestinal secretion stimulated by rotavirus non-structural protein 4 and activation of the enteric nervous system. In addition, rotavirus infections can lead to antigenaemia (which is associated with more severe manifestations of acute gastroenteritis) and viraemia, and rotavirus can replicate in systemic sites, although this is limited. Reinfections with rotavirus are common throughout life, although the disease severity is reduced with repeat infections. The immune correlates of protection against rotavirus reinfection and recovery from infection are poorly understood, although rotavirus-specific immunoglobulin A has a role in both aspects. The management of rotavirus infection focuses on the prevention and treatment of dehydration, although the use of antiviral and anti-emetic drugs can be indicated in some cases.

Acute Gastroenteritis Viruses

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Acute diarrhea is the leading cause of morbidity and second commonest cause of mortality in children <5 years old worldwide.

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Most acute diarrheal illnesses are caused by viruses.

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Noroviruses are the commonest cause of diarrhea in all age groups combined, and rotaviruses are still the leading cause of diarrhea for children <5 years old.

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Transmission is mainly by the fecal–oral route through person-to-person contact, contaminated food and water.

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Most cases of viral diarrhea are mild and self-limiting, but severe cases occur, leading to dehydration and death. Repeated episodes lead to malnutrition.

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Most cases can be managed at home with oral rehydration solutions and feeding a regular diet.

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Vaccines will be the best preventive measure. Only rotavirus vaccines are available.

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Breast-feeding, vitamin A supplementation and zinc significantly reduce the frequency and/or severity of diarrhea.

Systemic Manifestation of Rotavirus Infection in Children: A Report of Three Cases

Introduction

Rotavirus is a leading cause of acute gastroenteritis in children. Although the clinical complaints associated with rotavirus are generally gastrointestinal, including vomiting and diarrhea, data suggest that it can also cause symptoms that extend beyond the gastrointestinal tract.

Case Presentations

We report three pediatric cases of rotavirus infection: one accompanied by encephalopathy and two with elevated hepatic transaminase activity. The patients were admitted to Dr. Sami Ulus maternity and children’s health and diseases training and research hospital, Ankara, Turkey, from 2012 - 2014. The presented patients’ aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (1765-2614 IU L^-1) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (1448-3558 IU L^-1) levels are, to date, the highest reported levels associated with rotavirus infections, and suggest that the rotavirus can cause severe hepatic transaminase elevation.

Conclusions

This report aimed to increase awareness of the occurrence of extra-intestinal systemic manifestations of rotavirus infection. Although such cases may be rare, they still suggest that that rotavirus is a systemic viral infection.

The etiology of hypertransaminasemia in Turkish children

The aim of this study was to investigate the causes of elevated levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in children. We analyzed the medical records for children aged 3 months to 18 years who presented to the hospital with ALT >45 IU/L and/or AST >50 IU/L, between 2012 and 2014, for various reasons, including those not related to liver disease. In total, 281 children met the study criteria. This group comprised of 125 (44.5%) females and 156 (55.5%) males. At the presentation, the most common patient complaint was fatigue (53.4%), while 15.7% of the patients reported no symptoms. The most common findings on the physical examination were jaundice and hepatomegaly. In 15% of the cases, the findings were normal. According to the diagnosis, the most common cause of the elevated transaminases were infections (34%), with hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection as the leading cause (18.9%). Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) was the cause in 18.1% of the cases and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in 11.1%. The highest transaminase levels were associated with HAV infection, while DILI and NAFLD caused only slightly elevated transaminases. Overall, our results show that the elevated transaminases in children are most often caused by infections, DILI, and NAFLD. In a majority of cases, elevated ALT and AST indicate liver disease, however, they could also be associated with conditions other than liver damage. Additionally, the elevated enzymes can be detected in completely healthy individuals.