Rotavirus associated diarrhoea during infancy in the city of S. Luís (MA), Brazil: a two-year longitudinal study

Abstract

A total of 479 diarrhoeic children and 337 children without diarrhoea (controls) less than 5 years old were investigated in a two-year study in the city of S. Luís (MA), with the purpose to determine the incidence, the age distribution and the seasonality of rotaviruses, as well as to establish the severity of the disease in this region between the North and the Northeast of Brazil. rotavirus incidence was highest in children of the 1st. year of life, showing an average of 25% per year among the diarrhoeic patients attending the two main hospitals and three health units at the periphery of the city. It was shown that rotaviruses are significant enteropathogens in children less than 18 months old. Frequency of rotaviruses droped in diarrhoeic patients 18 to 23 months old to only 4%, the same percentage observed in children of the control group. A typical seasonal distribution of rotaviruses was not seen during the two years of study. There was a peak in the incidence of rotaviruses in 1986, during the rainy season, and two peaks in 1987, one in the rainy season and one in the dry season. It was also shown that severity of diarrhoea in rotavirus positive cases was higher than in the negative cases. Rotavirus diarrhoeic patients had more loose stools per day, and higher frequencies of vomiting and fever, resulting more often (> 2 times) in moderate or severe dehydration. Finally, it is concluded that the introduction of immunoprophylaxis may reduce significantly the high mortality rates in early childhood observed in S. Luís.

Economic and health burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis for the 2003 birth cohort in eight Latin American and Caribbean countries

“…For Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela the proportion of outpatient visits for diarrheal disease attributed to rotavirus was based on published data (4,10,(36)(37)(38)(39). The proportion of outpatient visits attributed to rotavirus diarrhea for the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, and Panama was based on extrapolation from other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (4-6, 10, 40).…”

Epidemiologia das infecções por rotavírus no Brasil e os desafios para o seu controle

“…Em termos gerais, a freqüência de diarréias associadas a rotavírus variou de 12% a 42%. Se consideradas as médias dos índices de positividade por região, ressalte-se o Norte com 36,5% (Linhares et al, 1983b;Linhares et al, 1993), registrando-se ainda taxas de 25%, 24%, 22% e 42%, para Nordeste (Houly et al, 1986;Stewien et al, 1991), Centro-oeste (Cardoso et al, 1989;Teixeira et al, 1991;Cardoso et al, 1992), Sudeste (Rácz et al, 1988;Candeias et al, 1989;Gatti et al, 1989;Gomes et al, 1991;Mangia et al, 1993;Stewien et al, 1993) e Sul (Coiro et al, 1985), respectivamente. Atribua-se a tal comparação, entretanto, o caráter de estimativa, face à nítida diversidade logística, metodológica e temporal que permeia os estudos em questão.…”

“…Com efeito, centrooeste e sudeste/sul brasileiros exibem marcante perfil sazonal, observando-se maior incidên-cia nos meses mais secos (maio a setembro) (Gomes et al, 1991;Teixeira et al, 1991;Cardoso et al, 1992;Stewien et al, 1993); em contrapartida, nos estados do Norte/Nordeste, tal sazonalidade não se revelou tão marcante (Linhares et al, 1983b;Stewien et al, 1991) (Figura 1).…”

Chapter Global climate change

“…Van den Broeck et al (1993);; Shkarin et al (1983); Sorvillo et al (1998); Stewien et al (1991); Williams et al (1986); Yang Stintzing et al (1981); Tswana et al (1990); Utsalo et al (1991); Vlasov et al et al (1990Vlasov et al et al ( ) (1983; Wilcox et al (1992); Wuhib et al (1994) Failing to find association: Bishop et al (2001); Conteas et al (1998); Varoli et al (1989) a A total of 597 publications were rejected on the basis of lack of information in abstract, or irrelevance to quantitative assessment (mainly reviews, clinical and laboratory studies).…”