Skip to main content
The Journal of Hygiene logoLink to The Journal of Hygiene
. 1982 Apr;88(2):285–293. doi: 10.1017/s0022172400070145

An outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by both rotavirus and Shigella sonnei in a private school in Rio de Janeiro.

F Sutmoller, R S Azeredo, M D Lacerda, O M Barth, H G Pereira, E Hoffer, H G Schatzmayr
PMCID: PMC2133862  PMID: 6278017

Abstract

In May 1980 an extensive outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred in a private school in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Examination of faeces and paired sera showed that this outbreak was caused by both rotavirus and a virulent strain of Shigella sonnei. In the first 19 stool samples collected seven (37%) had rotavirus only, six (32%) had Sh. sonnei only, while four (21%) had both agents. Examination of the second and third stool collections revealed only the presence of Sh. sonnei. The 18 paired sera showed seroconversion for rotavirus in four cases (22%) and in seven cases (39%) for Sh. sonnei. The overall attack rate of the disease was approximately 75%, the nursery and kindergarten having higher attack rates. Students in all grades became sick at the same time, and the unimodal curve of the onset dates of symptoms indicates a common source outbreak. Evidence suggested a contaminated water supply.

Full text

PDF
285

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Albrey M. B., Murphy A. M. Rotaviruses and acute gastroenteritis of infants and children. Med J Aust. 1976 Jan 24;1(4):82–85. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1976.tb111890.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Avrameas S. Coupling of enzymes to proteins with glutaraldehyde. Use of the conjugates for the detection of antigens and antibodies. Immunochemistry. 1969 Jan;6(1):43–52. doi: 10.1016/0019-2791(69)90177-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bauer A. W., Kirby W. M., Sherris J. C., Turck M. Antibiotic susceptibility testing by a standardized single disk method. Am J Clin Pathol. 1966 Apr;45(4):493–496. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bishop R. F., Davidson G. P., Holmes I. H., Ruck B. J. Virus particles in epithelial cells of duodenal mucosa from children with acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis. Lancet. 1973 Dec 8;2(7841):1281–1283. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(73)92867-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Black R. E., Craun G. F., Blake P. A. Epidemiology of common-source outbreaks of shigellosis in the United States, 1961-1975. Am J Epidemiol. 1978 Jul;108(1):47–52. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cáceres A., Mata L. J. Hemaglutinación indirecta para la investigación de anticuerpos a enterobacteriáceas. Rev Latinoam Microbiol. 1970 Jul-Sep;12(3):137–144. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Ellens D. J., de Leeuw P. W., Straver P. J., van Balken J. A. Comparison of five diagnostic methods for the detection of rotavirus antigens in calf faeces. Med Microbiol Immunol. 1978 Nov 17;166(1-4):157–163. doi: 10.1007/BF02121145. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Flewett T. H., Bryden A. S., Davies H. Diagnostic electron microscopy of faeces. I. The viral flora of the faeces as seen by electron microscopy. J Clin Pathol. 1974 Aug;27(8):603–608. doi: 10.1136/jcp.27.8.603. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Flewett T. H., Davies H., Bryden A. S., Robertson M. J. Diagnostic electron microscopy of faeces. II. Acute gastroenteritis associated with reovirus-like particles. J Clin Pathol. 1974 Aug;27(8):608–614. doi: 10.1136/jcp.27.8.608. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Foster S. O., Palmer E. L., Gary G. W., Jr, Martin M. L., Herrmann K. L., Beasley P., Sampson J. Gastroenteritis due to rotavirus in an isolated Pacific island group: an epidemic of 3,439 cases. J Infect Dis. 1980 Jan;141(1):32–39. doi: 10.1093/infdis/141.1.32. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Gangarosa E. J., Perera D. R., Mata L. J., Mendizábal-Morris C., Guzmán G., Reller L. B. Epidemia de disenteria Shiga en centroamérica. II. Estudios epidemiológicos en 1969. Bol Oficina Sanit Panam. 1971 Aug;71(2):108–120. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hieber J. P., Shelton S., Nelson J. D., Leon J., Mohs E. Comparison of human rotavirus disease in tropical and temperate settings. Am J Dis Child. 1978 Sep;132(9):853–858. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1978.02120340029004. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Lycke E., Blomberg J., Berg G., Eriksson A., Madsen L. Epidemic acute diarrhoea in adults associated with infantile gastroenteritis virus. Lancet. 1978 Nov 11;2(8098):1056–1057. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(78)92389-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. MACKEL D. C., LANGLEY L. F., VENICE L. A. The use of the guinea-pig conjunctivae as an experimental model for the study of virulence of Shigella organisms. Am J Hyg. 1961 Mar;73:219–223. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a120179. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Madeley C. R., Cosgrove B. P., Bell E. J., Fallon R. J. Stool viruses in babies in Glasgow. I. Hospital admissions with diarrhoea. J Hyg (Lond) 1977 Apr;78(2):261–273. doi: 10.1017/s0022172400056151. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Middleton P. J. Pathogenesis of rotaviral infection. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1978 Sep 1;173(5 Pt 2):544–546. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Middleton P. J., Petric M., Hewitt C. M., Szymanski M. T., Tam J. S. Counter-immunoelectro-osmophoresis for the detection of infantile gastroenteritis virus (orbi-group) antigen and antibody. J Clin Pathol. 1976 Mar;29(3):191–197. doi: 10.1136/jcp.29.3.191. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. NETER E., WALKER J. Hemagglutination test for specific antibodies in dysentery caused by Shigella sonnei. Am J Clin Pathol. 1954 Dec;24(12):1424–1429. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/24.12_ts.1424. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Pickering L. K., Evans D. J., Jr, Muñoz O., DuPont H. L., Coello-Ramírez P., Vollet J. J., Conklin R. H., Olarte J., Kohl S. Prospective study of enteropathogens in children with diarrhea in Houston and Mexico. J Pediatr. 1978 Sep;93(3):383–388. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(78)81142-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. SERENY B. Experimental shigella keratoconjunctivitis; a preliminary report. Acta Microbiol Acad Sci Hung. 1955;2(3):293–296. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Walsh J. A., Warren K. S. Selective primary health care: an interim strategy for disease control in developing countries. N Engl J Med. 1979 Nov 1;301(18):967–974. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197911013011804. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Yolken R. H., Greenberg H. B., Merson M. H., Sack R. B., Kapikian A. Z. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin. J Clin Microbiol. 1977 Nov;6(5):439–444. doi: 10.1128/jcm.6.5.439-444.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Yolken R. H., Kim H. W., Clem T., Wyatt R. G., Kalica A. R., Chanock R. M., Kapikian A. Z. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detection of human reovirus-like agent of infantile gastroenteritis. Lancet. 1977 Aug 6;2(8032):263–267. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(77)90951-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. von Bonsdorff C. H., Hovi T., Mäkelä P., Mörttinen A. Rotavirus infections in adults in association with acute gastroenteritis. J Med Virol. 1978;2(1):21–28. doi: 10.1002/jmv.1890020105. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Hygiene are provided here courtesy of Cambridge University Press

RESOURCES