Molecular features of astrovirus associated with a gastroenteritis outbreak in an aged-care centre

Abstract

The study presented here was conducted in order to gain a better understanding of the role of astroviruses (AsVs) in outbreaks of gastroenteritis among the elderly. This report is the first to provide detailed information on the molecular characteristics of an AsV causing an outbreak in an aged-care centre and is the first to clearly establish that individuals infected in such an outbreak were, in fact, elderly. The outbreak under investigation took place in Victoria, Australia, in October 2005. Twelve individuals (mean age +/- standard deviation [SD] 85.5 +/- 12.3 years) became ill during the outbreak from a total population of 86 susceptible residents. The mean duration (+/-SD) of illness was 2.3 +/- 1.6 days; symptoms included diarrhoea, abdominal pain, nausea and headache. No bacterial pathogens were detected. AsV was identified in five faecal specimens using electron microscopy and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction methodologies; no other gastroenteritis virus was detected. Nucleotide sequence analysis indicated the AsV identified could be assigned to the 1d lineage of AsV serotype 1 and that the AsV was not a recombinant form. The findings, taken together with previous work, indicate the AsV serotype most commonly associated with gastroenteritis outbreaks among the elderly is serotype 1 AsV.

Emerging trends in the epidemiology of human astrovirus infection among infants, children and adults hospitalized with acute watery diarrhea in Kolkata, India

“…HAstV_G2, HAstV_G3 and HAstV_G4 are also associated with diarrhea outbreaks, which have been reported frequently (Mitchell et al, 1999;Matsui et al, 1998;Méndez-Toss et al, 2000). HAstVassociated diarrheal outbreaks have been reported from military recruits in France, primary and junior high school teachers in Japan, and also in South African and Australian adults (Belliot et al, 1997b;Oishi et al, 1994;Pager and Steele, 2002;Marshall et al, 2007). Recently, sporadic cases of AGE in children due to dual genotype HAstV strains were reported from Western India (Verma et al, 2010).…”

Guidelines for Preventing Infectious Complications among Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Recipients: A Global Perspective

“…Outbreaks of astrovirus gastroenteritis have occurred in hospitals, nursing homes, and daycare centers [696][697][698]. Infection can also occur in HCT recipients [699].…”

Epidemiology of astrovirus infection in children

“…HAstV infections have been reported in 2 to 16% of children hospitalized with diarrhea and in 5 to 17% of children with diarrhea in community studies12-16). Although HAstV was detected less frequently than rotavirus or norovirus in surveillance studies, HAstV still requires close attention from a public health viewpoint because of large outbreaks in adults8,10) and frequent outbreaks in schools, pediatric hospitals, and child-care and aged-care centers1,17-19).…”