Rotavirus infection in a geriatric population

Abstract

An outbreak of gastroenteritis affected 19 of 34 geriatric patients and 4 of 23 staff assigned to the ward in a period of 3 1/2 wk in Jan. 1980. Fourteen of the 19 patients with gastroenteritis (17 were tested properly) and 4 of the 10 asymptomatic patients (5 asymptomatic patients were not tested) showed evidence of rotavirus infection by virus positivity and/or a significant antibody response to rotavirus. Of the 4 staff members with gastroenteritis, 1 showed serologic evidence (3 were tested) of rotavirus infection. Of the 18 asymptomatic staff members (2 remaining staff members were not tested), 9 showed a 4-fold rise in antibody to rotavirus, but 4 had antibody titers of .gtoreq. 1:32. The patients had diarrhea for a mean of 2.6 days. Most had .ltoreq. 5 diarrheal stools in 1 day. Six patients had a severe illness and 2 died. Of 16 symptomatic patients who had serum samples collected during the acute and convalescent phases, 13 manifested high titers (.gtoreq. 1:32) of complement-fixing antibody to rotavirus antigen.