Viremia and extraintestinal infections in infants with rotavirus diarrhea

Abstract

Objective: To test the hypothesis that viremia might be involved in infants with rotavirus (RV) diarrhea and extraintestinal infection.

Methods: The genomes of RV in the plasma of 60 infants with RV diarrhea were detected with nested reverse transcriptase-PCR, which were also performed on the mononuclear cells from 14 of these infants showing abnormal myocardial and hepatic enzyme profiles. The RV genomes in the vital organs of 2 dead infants with RV infection were examined with in situ hybridization and indirect in situ PCR.

Results: RV viremia was identified in 4 out of the 60 infants, and in one of the 4 cases, RV positive was affirmed in plasma in which RV sequence of serotype III without variation was found by partial sequencing of the PCR product, while the other 3 were found no RV positive mononuclear cells in the plasma samples. The genomes of rotavirus were found in the intestines, liver, lung and kidney of the 2 dead infants.

Conclusion: RV viremia is possible in young children requiring medical attention for RV diarrhea, and RV might migrate from intestines to other organs during viremia.