Comparison of latex agglutination test with an ELISA to diagnose rotavirus-associated diarrhoea in infants and young children.

An agglutination (LA) test, using latex beads sensitised with anti-rotavirus immunoglobulin G, was evaluated to detect human rotavirus in 200 stool specimens by comparing its results with those of an ELISA (Rotazyme, Abbott Laboratory, Diagnostic Div., North Chicago, IL). The specimens were collected from a systematic sample of 200 infants and pre-school children attending the Diarrhoeal Disease Research and Rehydration Centre at the Bab-El-Sha'reya University Hospital, Egypt. Of the 200 stool specimens tested, 79 were positive by the ELISA and 68 were positive by the LA test. Taking the ELISA as the standard, the LA test showed 11 false-negative and six false-positives giving a sensitivity and specificity of 86% and 95% respectively. Using 48 stool specimens positive for rotavirus by both the tests, the degree of positivity of the LA test roughly showed a linear relationship with the degree of rotazyme optical density. Thus, the simple and inexpensive LA test may be useful as a screening procedure to detect rotaviruses in the stools of children with diarrhoea.

Epidemiological and clinical features of rotavirus associated acute infantile diarrhoea in Cairo, Egypt.

Rotavirus was looked for in stool specimens from 200 randomly chosen infants and children aged 1-24 months presenting with acute diarrhoea of not more than 5 days duration at the Bab El-Sha'reya University Hospital during a 12-month period (January-December 1986). Forty per cent of cases were positive for rotavirus by the ELISA technique. Considering the seasonal pattern, during the hot months May to August, the monthly percentage of rotavirus positive cases ranged from 24 to 32 per cent while during the rest of the year, the range was from 37 to 60 per cent. There was no statistically significant difference between the rotavirus positive and negative cases as regards mean age in months (9.5 +/- 5.1 and 9.2 +/- 5.5, respectively), type of feeding or nutritional status. However, rotavirus positive cases were significantly more likely to present earlier, to have watery stools, to vomit or even to have vomiting before the onset of diarrhoea and to have respiratory symptoms. On the other hand, the means of dehydration score, rectal temperature and serum Na+ were not significantly different between the two groups.

Controlled clinical trial on the efficacy of rice powder-based oral rehydration solution on the outcome of acute diarrhea in infants.

We report a controlled clinical trial of rice powder-based oral rehydration solution (ORS) versus glucose ORS on the outcome of acute diarrhea in infants. The rice ORS group (n = 30) received ORS containing 50 g rice powder instead of standard WHO solution (20 g glucose, n = 30). Formula-fed male infants were enrolled to enable calculation of milk intake and excretion of urine. Patient allocation to either group depended on the method of random permuted blocks. Both groups were comparable regarding age (4-18 months), duration of diarrhea, number of bowel movements or vomiting per 24 h, rectal temperature, dehydration score, and nutritional status. Results revealed that the rice ORS group had a shorter duration of diarrhea (28.4 +/- 5.1 vs 34.3 +/- 2.3 h) and greater mean weight gain in the first 24 h as percentage of recovery weight (5.7 +/- 0.5% vs 4.1 +/- 0.6%). Furthermore, the mean amount of ORS intake, mean stool output, and mean number of episodes of vomiting were lower in the rice-ORS group as compared with the glucose ORS group. All differences were statistically significant. Due to its observed superiority and low cost, the widespread use of rice ORS should be considered for treatment of acute diarrhea.