Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Sep;10(9):2281-2286.
doi: 10.21037/tp-21-150.

Rotavirus and adenovirus infections in children during COVID-19 outbreak in Hangzhou, China

Wei Li  1 , Yueling Zhu  2 , Jingan Lou  3 , Jie Chen  3 , Xiaojun Xie  1 , Jianhua Mao  4
Affiliations

Rotavirus and adenovirus infections in children during COVID-19 outbreak in Hangzhou, China

Wei Li et al. Transl Pediatr. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Background: This study aims to investigate the impact of protective measures and isolation on intestinal infection in children before and after COVID-19 outbreak in Hangzhou, China.

Methods: Data on outpatient visits, intestinal infection visits, and tests of adenovirus or rotavirus from electronic healthcare records were extracted in Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine during the COVID-19 outbreak (January-December, 2020), and be compared with those in 2019 during the same period.

Results: We found that pediatric outpatient visits, patients with intestinal infection and its proportion from January to December of 2020 were significantly less than that in the same period of 2019. Furthermore, the numbers of outpatient visits and patients with intestinal infection were the lowest in February and elevated slowly from March to December in 2020. We also found significantly decreased number of completed tests for intestinal viruses, positive cases of adenovirus and rotavirus, positive rate of rotavirus during January-December, 2020. The positive rates of adenovirus from March to September and December of 2020 were significantly lower than the levels of the same period in 2019. The positive rate of rotavirus and adenovirus in all age groups in 2020 is lower than the level of all age groups in 2019.

Conclusions: The outpatient visits and intestinal, rotavirus and adenovirus infections in children significantly decreased during COVID-19 outbreak. Adequate protective measures and isolation in children may help to prevent intestinal virus infections in children.

Keywords: COVID-19; Rotavirus; adenovirus; children.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://dx.doi.org/10.21037/tp-21-150). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of patients with intestinal infection and outpatient visits from January–June in 2019 and 2020. (A) Monthly number of outpatient visits; (B) proportion of patients with intestinal infection in outpatient visits.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of positive rate for adenovirus and rotavirus from January to December in 2019 and 2020. (A) Positive rate of adenovirus; (B) positive rate of rotavirus.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of positive rate for adenovirus and rotavirus in different age groups from January to December in 2019 and 2020. (A) Positive rate of adenovirus infection; (B) positive rate of rotavirus infection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chen J, Wan CM, Gong ST, et al. Chinese clinical practice guidelines for acute infectious diarrhea in children. World J Pediatr 2018;14:429-36. 10.1007/s12519-018-0190-2 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Li W, Xiang W, Li C, et al. Molecular epidemiology of rotavirus A and adenovirus among children with acute diarrhea in Hangzhou, China. Gut Pathog 2020;12:19. 10.1186/s13099-020-00359-4 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dian Z, Fan M, Wang B, et al. The prevalence and genotype distribution of rotavirus A infection among children with acute gastroenteritis in Kunming, China. Arch Virol 2017;162:281-5. 10.1007/s00705-016-3102-6 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Li L, Phan TG, Nguyen TA, et al. Molecular epidemiology of adenovirus infection among pediatric population with diarrhea in Asia. Microbiol Immunol 2005;49:121-8. 10.1111/j.1348-0421.2005.tb03711.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pan A, Liu L, Wang C, et al. Association of Public Health Interventions With the Epidemiology of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Wuhan, China. JAMA 2020;323:1915-23. 10.1001/jama.2020.6130 - DOI - PMC - PubMed