Abdelwahid Saeed Ali
King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia
Title: Viral etiology and epidemiology of acute pediatric gastroenteritis in southern region of Saudi Arabia
Biography
Biography: Abdelwahid Saeed Ali
Abstract
This study was desgined and conducted to determine the viral etiology and prevalence of acute gastroenteritis among pediatric patients in southern region of Saudi Arabia (KSA) through December 2015- December 2018. The presence of rotavirus, adenovirus and astrovirus was tested in a number of 461 diarrheal samples collected randomly from hospital-admitted children under five years of age in three different localties. The dual (coinfection) rates, sex and age distribution of infection were also assessed in this study. Immunochromatographic technique (ICT) was employed to investigate the presence of the antigens of these three viral agents. Out of the 461 specimens, 85 (18.4%) were noted positive for at least one viral agent. Among the 85 positive specimens, a total of 104 virus was detected with the frequency of 72 (69.2%), 25 (24.0%) and 7 (6.7%) for rotavirus, adenovirus and astrovirus respectively. A number of 19 cases (22.4%) revealed dual viral infections (co-infections). In conclusions, rotavirus is detected as the most causative agent of acute gastroenteritis in children in the study area, followed by adenovirus, and astrovirus. ICT is confirmed and suggested as a rapid, sensitive and routine serological tests for detection of diarroeal viruses in among pediatic patients.