Rotavirus and pararotavirus infections in adults. Analysis of a nosocomial infection and some sporadic cases

: A nosocomial infection in adults due to rotavirus is described. The identity of the infecting rotavirus strains was demonstrated by genomic dsRNA electrophoresis. At an interval of 19 days another patient in the same hospital developed a pararotavirus infection. Pararotaviruses or rotavirus-like agents are antigenetically distinct from rotaviruses and thus cannot be detected at present by the available antibody mediated antigen detection systems. The current prevalence of pararotavirus infections in adults is unknown in Switzerland. The question whether there is a relationship between the small nosocomial rotavirus epidemic and the sporadic pararotavirus infection remains speculative. We also performed microbiological workups of 394 fecal samples from outpatients with diarrhoea. During the study period from January to April 1984 rotaviruses were the third most frequent aetiological agent, after salmonella and campylobacter, in acute adult gastroenteritis. Selecting the bacteriologically negative fecal samples with a watery and non-bloody aspect, rotaviruses were found in 30%.