title: Rotavirus infection in elderly patients.
abstract: In the course of an outbreak of non-bacterial diarrhoea in a group of elderly patients in a rehabilitation ward, rotavirus was detected by electron-microscopy in five of 11 stool specimens (45.5%) from symptomatic elderly patients. This suggests that although rotavirus is usually thought of as a cause of gastro-enteritis in children it should also be considered as a cause of non-bacterial diarrhoea in elderly patients and stool specimens examined for its presence. Rotavirus gastro-enteritis appears to be a highly contagious disease but appropriate measures can limit its spread.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000209:etiology*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012088:Reoviridae Infections; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification