Gastrointestinal pathogen distribution in symptomatic children in Sydney, Australia

Stephanie Fletcher; Sebastian Van Hal; David Andresen; Mary-Louise McLaws; Damien Stark; John Harkness; John Ellis

doi:10.1016/j.jegh.2012.11.004

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Volume 3, Issue 1, March 2013, Pages 11 - 21

Gastrointestinal pathogen distribution in symptomatic children in Sydney, Australia

Authors

Stephanie Fletcher^a^,stephanie.fletcher@uts.edu.au, Sebastian Van Hal^a^{, b}^{, 1}^,sebastian.vanhal@sswahs.nsw.gov.au, David Andresen^c^,david.andresen@health.nsw.gov, Mary-Louise McLaws^d^,m.mclaws@unsw.edu.au, Damien Stark^a^{, e}^,dstark@stvincents.com.au, John Harkness^a^{, e}^,jharkness@stvincents.com.au, John Ellis^a^{, *}^,John.Ellis@uts.edu.au

^aThe iThree Institute and School of Medical and Molecular Biosciences, University of Technology, Sydney, P.O. Box 123, Broadway, NSW, Australia

^bDepartment of Microbiology, Liverpool Hospital, Locked Bag 7103, Liverpool NSW 1871, Australia

^cDepartment of Microbiology, Children’s Hospital at Westmead, NSW, University of Sydney, Australia

^dSchool of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Medicine, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

^eDivision of Microbiology, SydPath, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia

¹

Present address: Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

^*Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 2 9514 4161; fax: +61 2 9514 4143.

Corresponding Author

John EllisJohn.Ellis@uts.edu.au

Received 25 August 2012, Revised 28 November 2012, Accepted 30 November 2012, Available Online 20 January 2013.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jegh.2012.11.004 How to use a DOI?
Keywords: Children; Diarrhoea; Adenovirus; Norovirus; Rotavirus; Australia
Abstract: There is limited information on the causes of paediatric diarrhoea in Sydney. This cross-sectional study used clinical and microbiological data to describe the clinical features and pathogens associated with gastrointestinal illnesses for children presenting to two major public hospitals in Sydney with diarrhoea, for the period January 2007–December 2010.

Of 825 children who tested positive for an enteric pathogen, 430 medical records were reviewed. Adenovirus, norovirus and rotavirus were identified in 20.8%, 20.3% and 21.6% of reviewed cases, respectively. Younger children were more likely to have adenovirus and norovirus compared with rotavirus (P = 0.001). More viruses were detected in winter than in the other three seasons (P = 0.001). Rotavirus presented a distinct seasonal pattern with the lowest rates occurring in the warm months and peaking in the cooler months. Adenovirus showed a less consistent monthly trend, and norovirus detection increased in the cooler months (P = 0.008). A decline in the number of rotavirus cases was observed after mid-2008.

The majority of childhood diarrhoeal illnesses leading to hospital presentations in Sydney are caused by enteric viruses with most infections following clear seasonal patterns. However, a sustained decrease in the incidence of rotavirus infections has been observed over the study period.
Open Access: This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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Journal: Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
Volume-Issue: 3 - 1
Pages: 11 - 21
Publication Date: 2013/01/20
ISSN (Online): 2210-6014
ISSN (Print): 2210-6006
DOI: 10.1016/j.jegh.2012.11.004 How to use a DOI?
Open Access: This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Cite this article

ris enw bib

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Stephanie Fletcher
AU  - Sebastian Van Hal
AU  - David Andresen
AU  - Mary-Louise McLaws
AU  - Damien Stark
AU  - John Harkness
AU  - John Ellis
PY  - 2013
DA  - 2013/01/20
TI  - Gastrointestinal pathogen distribution in symptomatic children in Sydney, Australia
JO  - Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
SP  - 11
EP  - 21
VL  - 3
IS  - 1
SN  - 2210-6014
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jegh.2012.11.004
DO  - 10.1016/j.jegh.2012.11.004
ID  - Fletcher2013
ER  -

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