RESUMO
The analysis of the results of the clinico-epidemiological and laboratory examination of children with clinical manifestations of acute gastroenteritis, admitted to specialized hospitals in Sverdlovsk during 1982-1983, showed that morbidity rate in Sverdlovsk was determined mainly by cases registered among children during the first 2 years of their life. Morbidity rate among children aged up to 1 year was 3-6 times higher than that among children of other age groups. Cases of gastroenteritis among children not belonging to organized groups were observed 3.9 times more frequently than in organized groups of children. Gastroenteritis of viral etiology constituted 50% of all nonbacterial enteric infections in young children, the course of gastroenteritis being more favorable in children aged up to 3 months than in older children. 54% of gastroenteritis cases in children aged up to 1 year and 71% of such cases in children aged 1-2 years proved to be of rotavirus etiology.
