Astrovirus: a newly identified cause of day-care diarrhea. (the Journal of Pediatrics, November 1993)

Neither an exotic new flower, nor a new outbreak among astronauts, astrovirus is a relatively new virus known to cause one of our least favorite maladies -- day-care diarrhea! We're sure you're well acquainted with the many charms of rotavirus and Giardia, the "most frequently encountered enteropathogens," or diarrhea-causative agents. But now, you can impress people with the fact that astrovirus may be responsible for a substantial number of diarrheal outbreaks.

A study performed in Virginia in conjunction with the CDC in Atlanta set out to identify the causative agents in diarrheal disease outbreaks in day-care centers during a period from January, 1986 through December, 1991. An outbreak of diarrhea was defined as "the occurrence of diarrhea in two or more children in a DCC room within 1 week". All the study children were diaper-clad individuals, as this is a disease mainly affecting younger children.

Results showed that "during the 50 months of surveillance there were 134 outbreaks of diarrhea, which included 1224 episodes of diarrhea. The number of children involved in each outbreak ranged from 2 to 55, with a mean of 9. At least one enteropathogen was identified in association with 51% of the 134 outbreaks. Thirty-one outbreaks (23%) were associated with rotavirus alone; 8 (6%) with Giardia lamblia alone; 5 (4%) with enteric adenovirus alone; 1 (1%) with Aeromonas species alone; 15 (11%) with multiple enteropathogens; and ...