Deakin University
Browse

File(s) not publicly available

Pattern of shedding of two noncultivable viruses in stools of newborn babies

journal contribution
posted on 1978-01-01, 00:00 authored by D J Cameron, R F Bishop, Anneke Veenstra, G L Barnes, I H Holmes, B J Ruck
Noncultivable viruses have been associated with diarrhea affecting newborn babies in obstetric hospital nurseries. Persisting infection in a special care nursery in Melbourne, Australia, permitted a study of the pattern of excretion of these viruses. Ten babies admitted to the nursery within 2 hr of birth were randomly selected for prospective study. Feces were collected daily for 14 days and were examined by electron microscopy. All ten babies excreted detectable amounts of duovirus (rotavirus, HRVL agent, IGV) for at least 1 day. Age at onset of excretion varied from 2 to 13 days. Eight of the ten babies developed diarrhea. Excretion of duovirus preceded the onset of diarrhea by 12--72 hr and persisted for at least 3 days. Seven of the ten babies also excreted detectable amounts of 28-nm virus-like particle for 3--8 days. The identity of this particle is unknown. Morphologically it resembles Norwalk agent and "astrovirus." Excretion of this 28-nm particle coincided with symptoms of diarrhea in four babies, all of whom were also excreting duovirus. It is concluded that most newborn babies admitted to a nursery where duovirus infection is endemic will excrete this virus at least once during the first 2 weeks of life. Excretion of virus particles will either precede development of diarrhea or be asymptomatic. Selective isolation of babies with diarrhea is thus unlikely to control spread of duovirus infection within a hospital nursery.

History

Journal

Journal of medical virology

Volume

2

Issue

1

Pagination

7 - 13

Publisher

Wiley

Location

Chichester, Eng.

ISSN

0146-6615

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

1978, Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Usage metrics

    Research Publications

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC