Epidemiology of enteric virus infections in children living in the Amazon region.

OBJECTIVES

To verify the frequency of viruses causing acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in association with the histo-blood group antigen (HBGA) and Rotarix™ vaccination coverage in children from the Amazon region.

DESIGN

Fecal and saliva samples were collected from children with AGE (n = 485) and acute respiratory infection (ARI) (n = 249) clinical symptoms. Rotavirus A (RVA), norovirus, human adenovirus (HAdV), and sapovirus (SaV) were verified in feces by molecular detection. Saliva samples were used for HBGA phenotyping/FUT3 genotyping. Blood group types, clinical aspects and Rotarix™ RVA vaccination data were recorded.

RESULTS

Norovirus remained the most prevalently detected cause of AGE (38%, 184/485 and ARI 21.3%, 53/249). High HAdV frequencies were observed in AGE children (28.6%, 139/485) and ARI children (37.3%, 93/249). RVA was the third most prevalent virus causing AGE (22.7%, 110/485 and ARI 19.3%, 48/249) and a low RV1 coverage (61%, 448/734) was verified. The SaV frequencies were lower (7.2%, 35/485 for AGE and 6.8%, 17/249 for ARI). Secretor children were HBGA susceptible to HAdV infection (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.0-2.3; P = 0.04) but not to RVA, norovirus or SaV infection.

CONCLUSIONS

Norovirus could be considered the main etiological agent of AGE. No association was verified for HBGA susceptibility to RVA, norovirus and SaV. Secretor children showed a slight susceptibility to HAdV infection and the Le (a-b-) heterogeneous SNPs on the FUT3 gene.