Circulating and breast-milk anti-rotaviral antibodies and neonatal rotavirus infections: a maternal-neonatal study.
In view of the high prevalence of rotavirus (RV) diarrhoea in Indian (Asian) infants in South Africa, a hospital-based study of 124 mothers and their neonates was carried out to establish the prevalence of maternal and neonatal circulating anti-RV antibodies, RV antibodies in breast-milk, and neonatal RV infections in this population. Thirty-four per cent of the mothers and 38% of the neonates had complement-fixing (CF) serum antibodies. There was a significant correlation between maternal and cord blood antibody levels (p less than 0.001; chi-square test). Fifteen per cent of hospital-born newborns showed asymptomatic RV excretion while still in hospital, mostly at 2-6 days of age, but some even earlier, with two shedding the virus before the age of 24 h. This excretion occurred in both seronegative and seropositive babies. The breast-milk of only 3.2% of the mothers was positive for CF-anti-RV antibodies, implying that either these were not present in the breast-milk or that the CF-test employed was not sufficiently sensitive for detecting these antibodies in milk specimens. Eighteen (18.2%) of 99 infants followed up showed evidence of RV infection 1-7 months after birth; none was symptomatic; 12 excreted RV in the stools while 6 others seroconverted. Asymptomatic reinfection was documented in 4 of 14 babies who had been infected initially as neonates.
Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Natal, South Africa.
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Haffejee
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Moosa
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Windsor
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D003168:Complement Fixation Tests / Q000379:methods; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000382:microbiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000276:immunology*; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology
D000914:Antibodies, Viral