title: Prevalence of human astrovirus in patients with acute gastroenteritis.
abstract: The prevalence of human astroviruses was tested in patients with acute gastroenteritis by using conventional duplex reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and electrophoresis. Diarrheal fecal samples were collected from 9,597 patients at local hospitals in Seoul. The prevalence of astroviruses was 1.0% (94/9,597 patients; mostly infants), and that of sapoviruses was 0.1% (14/9,597 patients). Age- and gender-wise analyses were carried out on 29 astrovirus-positive patients having complete information on file regarding their age, gender, and other particulars. The results were higher in patients of ages 0 to 14 yr, and 69.0% of the astrovirus-positive patients were females, of which 69.2% were infants (0 to 12 months), and 61.5% were 1-4 yr old. Notably, in the case of 5 to 78-yr-old acute gastroenteritis patients, 100% were females.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Seoul Metropolitan Government Research Institute of Public Health and Environment, Gwacheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Heejin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ham
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Seoul Metropolitan Government Research Institute of Public Health and Environment, Gwacheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Seah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Seoul Metropolitan Government Research Institute of Public Health and Environment, Gwacheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Jungim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Seoul Metropolitan Government Research Institute of Public Health and Environment, Gwacheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Sukju
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jo
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Seoul Metropolitan Government Research Institute of Public Health and Environment, Gwacheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Sungmin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Sonil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pak
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D019350:Astroviridae Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D001257:Mamastrovirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D029341:Sapovirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral
keywords: Acute gastroenteritis; Astrovirus; Infants; Prevalence