Faecal samples were obtained from 190 children, aged 0 to 5 years, admitted to a public hospital in Belem, Para,Brazil. These patients were placed in a pediatric ward with 40 beds distributed in six rooms. Cases were classified into three groups: (a) nosocomial: children who developed gastroenteritis 72 hr or later after admission; (b) community-acquired: patients admitted either with diarrhoea or who had diarrhoea within 72 hr following admission; (c) non-diarrhoeic: those children who had no diarrhoea three days before and three days after collection of formed faecal sample. Specimens were routinely processed for the presence of rotaviruses, bacteria and parasites. Rotaviruses were detected through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)and subsequently serotyped/electrophoretyped. Rotaviruseswere the most prevalent enteropathogens among nosocomial cases, accounting for 39% (9/23) of diarrhoeal episodes; on the other hand, rotaviruses occurred in 8.3% (11/133) and 9% (3/34) of community-acquired and non-diarrhoeic categories, respectively. Mixed infections involving rotavirus and Giardia intestinalis and rotavirus plus G. intestinalis and Entamoeba histolytica were detected in frequencies of 8.6 and 4.3%, respectively, in the nosocomial group. The absence of bacterial pathogens in this category, and the unusual low prevalence of these agents in the other two groups may reflect the early and routine administration of antibiotics following admission to this hospital. Rotavirus serotype 2 prevailed over the other types, accounting for 77.8% of isolates from nosocomial diarrhoeal episodes. In addition, at least five different genomic profiles could be observed, of which one displayed anunusual five-segment first RNA cluster. Dehydration was recordedin all cases of hospital-acquired, rotavirus-associated diarrhoea, whereas in only 57% of nosocomial cases ofother aetiology. It was also noted that nosocomial, rotavirus-associated diarrhoeal episodes occur earlier (7 days), following admission, if compared with those hospital-acquired cases of other aetiology (14 days).
