Clinical manifestations of 176 infants with rotavirus enteritis

Objective To improve the clinical understanding of rotavirus gastroenteritis(RV) and pro-vide evidences for prevention and therapy of the disease in children. Methods From October 2005 to Septem-ber 2007 data of 176 patients with acute rotavirus gastroenteritis in our paediatric department were analyzed ret-rospectively. Results Comparing the exent of dehydration with the feeding pattern in infant with RV under one years old, there was significant difference between the artificial feeding group and the breast feeding group (P<0.01). Same to the mixed-feeding group(P<0.05). Comparing the degree of dehydration and metabolic acido-sis, the difference between 0-12 months group and 13-24 months group was also significant(P<0.05). Ihe num-ber of patients with isoosmotic, hypoosmotic, hyperosmotic dehydration was 127,38 and 11 respectively. The number of patients with hyponatremia in mild dehydration group and moderate to severe dehydration group was 14 (15.1%) and 24 (28.9%) respectively. The difference between them was significant (P<0.05). Conclu-sion Breast feeding can relieve the condition of infant with RV. The incidence of metabolic acidosis was high in infant with serious dehydration. Infants with RV usually got iso-osmotic dehydration. If the dehydration aggrava-ted,the number of hypoosmotic dehydration was apparently increased. Key words: Infant ;  rotavirus ;  Enteritis ;  Dehydration