Faeces from 17 children less than 1.6 years old and 15 adults
more than 22 years old were collected during an outbreak of
gastroenteritis in a day care nursery and screened for the
presence of adenovirus and rotavirus by enzyme immunoassay
(EIARA) and other viruses by electron microscopy (EM) and
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Ten samples (58.8%)
from children and one (6.7%) from adults were positive for
rotavirus and all samples were negative for bacteria and
parasites. No other viruses were observed in EM An enzyme
immunoassay test using monoclonal antibodies (Mab-EIA) to
determine the subgroup(s) and the serotype(s) of rotavirus was
performed and the results showed that all positive samples
belong to serotype 1, subgroup II of group A rotaviruses. In
PAGE test all samples had the same profile and the 10 and 11
dsRNA segments corresponed to the "long" profile of group A of
rotaviruses. These results corroborated the MAb EIA results
and indicate a sole source of infection. The major symptoms
observed were: vomiting (60%), fever (70%) and diarrhoea
(100%). In previous years (1989 to 1991) we observed only
rotavirus serotype 2 in this same day care nursery, but no
outbreak was reported.
