Korean J Clin Microbiol.  2004 Mar;7(1):55-58.

An Outbreak of Astrovirus Infection of Newborns with Hemorrhagic Diarrhea in a Neonatal Unit

• Yi J
• Lee JK
• Chung EH
• Cho DH
• Kim EC

Abstract

BACKGROUND: We investigated the causative agents of hemorrhagic diarrhea which occurred in newborn babies in a hospital nursery in July, 2002. Rotavirus was not confirmed as the cause because only a few patients were positive for rotavirus test while most others with hemorrhagic diarrhea were negative. Therefore, patients with bloody stool were tested for Salmonella, Shigella, rotavirus, adenovirus, enterovirus, astrovirus, and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC).
METHODS
Bloody stools from 12 newborns with hemorrhagic diarrhea were tested. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of shiga-toxin gene was performed for EHEC. Rotavirus and adenovirus were tested with latex agglutination kit (Orion Diagnostica). Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR was performed for enterovirus. To detect astrovirus, RNA was extracted with Viral RNA Mini Kit (QIAGEN), reverse-transcribed with random hexamer, and PCR-amplified with specific primers.
RESULTS
Of the 12 patients tested, seven (58%) were positive for astrovirus RT-PCR while all were negative for Salmonella, Shigella, EHEC, rotavirus, adenovirus, and enterovirus.
CONCLUSIONS
Although diarrhea caused by astrovirus is known to be milder than that caused by rotavirus, our cases showed that astrovirus could cause serious bloody diarrhea in newborn babies.

Keyword

Astrovirus; Nosocomial infection; Hemorrhagic diarrhea

MeSH Terms

Adenoviridae
Agglutination
Cross Infection
Diarrhea*
Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli
Enterovirus
Humans
Infant, Newborn*
Latex
Nurseries, Hospital
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Reverse Transcription
RNA
RNA, Viral
Rotavirus
Salmonella
Shigella
Latex
RNA
RNA, Viral