• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.130-133
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• 2017

Noroviruses have been recognized as the leading cause of epidemic and sporadic gastroenteritis since the advent of molecular diagnostic technique. They have been documented in 5-31% of pediatric patients hospitalized with gastroenteritis. Although norovirus gastroenteritis is typically mild and self-limited, it causes severe, but sometimes fatal, conditions in the vulnerable population such as immunocompromised patients, young children, and the elderly. Bowel perforation due to norovirus infection is rare. We report a case of small bowel perforation with norovirus gastroenteritis in the infant with Down syndrome during the hospitalization with pneumonia. Severe dehydration may cause bowel ischemia and could have triggered bowel perforation in this case. Physicians should be alert to the potential surgical complications followed by severe acute diarrhea, especially in high risk groups.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.346-356
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• 2021

Purpose: Campylobacter species are currently the most common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis. In Lebanon, Campylobacter infection occurrence is underdiagnosed owing to the lack of specific culture and rapid test kits, particularly among children. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence, laboratory findings, and clinical characteristics of Campylobacter infection in hospitalized children with acute gastroenteritis in South Lebanon. Methods: We conducted a 6-month retrospective cohort study between January and June 2018, including 291 children aged between 1 month and 12 years, who were admitted to a tertiary healthcare center in South Lebanon. The medical files of the patients were reviewed to retrieve the required clinical information, including clinical and laboratory data. Results: The prevalence of campylobacteriosis agents in pediatric patients with acute gastroenteritis is 12.02%. Patients infected with Campylobacter had more severe acute gastroenteritis than Campylobacter-negative patients and often presented with high-grade fever, diarrhea episodes more than six times per day, diarrhea lasting for more than five days, and dehydration. Indeed, children with high-grade fever (≥38.5℃) were five times more likely to test positive for Campylobacter than those with low-grade fever. In addition, the results showed a higher Vesikari score for the majority of Campylobacter-positive patients with severe acute gastroenteritis compared to a moderate profile for Campylobacter-negative patients. Conclusion: The present study findings highlight that Campylobacter infection is frequent among children with acute gastroenteritis. Therefore, the detection of Campylobacter should be carried out for the diagnosis of human gastroenteritis in Lebanon, along with the detection of routine enteropathogens.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.239-242
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• 2004

Eosinophilic gastroenteritis is a rare condition of unknown etiology characterized by peripheral eosinophilia, eosinophilic infiltration of the gastrointestinal tract, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Eosinophilic gastroenteritis is generally classified according to the Klain classification: predominant mucosal, muscular, and subserosal disease. Mucosal involvement may result in abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, anemia, protein-losing enteropathy, and intestinal perforation. Patients with muscular layer disease generally have obstructive symptoms. Subserosal eosinophilic infiltration may result in development of eosinophilic ascites. Most commonly, the stomach, duodenum, and small bowel are involved. A 13-year-old girl came to our hospital presenting with chronic, intermittent abdominal pain. She showed peripheral eosinophilia and biopsy specimen of the duodenum revealed eosinophilic infiltration of the mucosal layer. We here report a case of eosinophilic gastroenteritis.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.64 no.6
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• pp.260-268
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• 2021

Since the 2000s, the major causes of acute gastroenteritis in children in Korea have been identified by classifying the pathogens into viruses, bacteria, and protozoa. For viruses, the detection rate is 20%-30%, and norovirus is being increasingly detected to account for the majority of viral gastroenteritis cases. In addition, despite the dissemination of the rotavirus vaccine, many rotavirus infections persist, and its seasonal distribution is changing. The detection rate of bacterial pathogens is 3%-20%, with Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. infections being the most common, while the incidences of Bacillus cereus and Campylobacter spp. infections are gradually increasing. Owing to intermittent outbreaks of gastroenteritis caused by individual bacteria as well as the inflow of causative bacteria, such as E. coli, Vibrio spp., and Campylobacter spp., from overseas, continuous surveillance of and research into the characteristics and serotypes of each bacterium are needed.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2012

Objectives: For our survey of the incidence of norovirus infections and the genogroup distribution of norovirus in Seoul, Republic of Korea, we evaluated through regular surveillance the prevalence of norovirus infections in patients with acute gastroenteritis occurring in Seoul from January 2007 to July 2011. Methods: For norovirus detection, we conducted epidemiological analyses on the basis of the junction of ORF1 and ORF2 (approximately 314 bp). 11,202 fecal specimens were collected from patients in Seoul with acute gastroenteritis between January 2007 and July 2011 and then tested for the presence of NoV via reverse transcription (RT) - polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: 16.6% (1,861/11,202) of the fecal specimens were determined to be positive for noroviruses. The incidences of norovirus infection in Seoul in the case of acute gastroenteritis with regular surveillance were 28.0% in 2007, 14.6% in 2008, 9.1% in 2009, 14.1% in 2010, and 12.9% in 2011, which shows that noroviruses constituted a major causative agent of acute gastroenteritis. Also, the incidence of noroviral infection in patients with acute gastroenteritis increased after the large-scale new influenza in 2009. Conclusions: The genetic characteristics of norovirus and the epidemiologic patterns of a viral pathogen in acute gastroenteritis patients may provide potentially effective data for epidemiological studies in Seoul, Korea.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.87-102
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• 2023

Globally, acute gastroenteritis is responsible for two million pediatric deaths. In particular, viral gastroenteritis is the most common cause of acute diarrhea, and most children aged <5 years are infected at least once. The common symptoms include profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and fever. Viral gastroenteritis is generally caused by rotavirus, norovirus, astrovirus, and adenovirus. Recently, probiotics use has increased rapidly worldwide due to its inhibitory effect against viral gastroenteritis. In addition, probiotics are known to have anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects and enhance immunity without any side effects. Therefore, this review focuses on the anti-viral effects of probiotics on viral gastroenteritis. Furthermore, this review would provide basic data that could be used for developing new products that have improved functionality by addition of probiotics to milk and dairy food.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.303-305
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• 2009

The incidence and etiology of parasite-associated gastroenteritis during 2004-2006 in Gyeonggi-do (province), South Korea was determined by means of antigen detection ELISA on 6,071 stool specimens collected from 6 general hospitals. At least 1 parasitic agent was detected in 3.4% (208/6,071) of the stool samples. Among these, Giardia lamblia was the most numerous (152 cases; 2.5%), followed by Entamoeba histolytica (25 cases; 0.4%), Cryptosporidium parvum (23 cases; 0.4%), and mixed infections (8 cases; 0.1%). Patients aged 1-5years had the largest proportion (69.2%; 144/208) of parasite-positive stool specimens. Parasite-mediated gastroenteritis was most common from June to September. The detection rate gradually increased from 2004 to 2006. This study shows that parasite-mediated gastroenteritis may be significant among children in Korea and that parasite infection surveillance should be constantly performed.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.181-186
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• 2011

Eosinophilic gastroenteritis is a rare disease occurring especially in children, and shows various nonspecific presentations with infiltration of eosinophils in the gastrointestinal organs. The pathophysiology of eosinophilic gastroenteritis is not yet clearly known, but allergic reactions are suspected to be related with the disease. Eosinophilic gastroenteritis is categorized into the mucosal, muscularis and subserosal types based on which layer of the intestinal wall is involved. There are different clinical manifestations according to the involved layer. Most cases to date have responded well to steroid therapy. In this study, we diagnosed and treated a case of non-IgE-mediated, subserosal eosinophilic gastroenteritis in a child with abdominal pain, diarrhea and ascites.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.453-457
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• 2009

Purpose : Our aim was to describe the clinical features of noroviral gastroenteritis in children. Methods : This study included 22 children with noroviral gastroenteritis, as confirmed by stool RT-PCR, who were admitted to Bundang CHA Hospital between July 2006 and June 2008. Their medical records were reviewed and compared with those of 45 children with rotaviral gastroenteritis. Results : In the norovirus group, 19 (86.4%) children showed vomiting and 21 (95.5%) children showed diarrhea, while all children in the rotaviral group showed both vomiting and diarrhea. The duration of vomiting was not different in the two groups, but mean episodes of vomiting/24 h were higher in the norovirus group than in the rotavirus group. The duration of diarrhea was longer and mean episodes of diarrhea/24 h were higher in the rotavirus group. The Vesikari Scale was not different in the two groups. Frequency and duration of fever did not show a significant difference. Most children in both groups were below 2 years of age. Conclusion : Clinical features of noroviral gastroenteritis were largely similar to those of rotaviral gastroenteritis, but vomiting was more severe in noroviral infection, and diarrhea was more severe and prolonged in rotaviral infection. With regard to noroviral infection, further epidemiologic investigations and preventive efforts are essential.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.167-173
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• 2014

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the changes in the outbreak of acute gastroenteritis, rotavirus gastroenteritis after the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine in Korea. Methods: The current study investigated the number of inpatients in the pediatric ward of Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital during the periods of 2005-2006 and 2011-2012. A retrospective analysis was conducted on the medical records of 2,840 patients <5 years of age who were hospitalized at Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital in these time periods. Results: When we compared 2 separate sets of data from before (2005-2006) and after (2011-2012) vaccine introduction, there were statistically significant decreases in the number of patients who were hospitalized for acute gastroenteritis across all of the groups of patients <5 years of age except those <2 months of age. The number of patients with rotavirus gastroenteritis in all age groups declined except for children <2 months of age and those 2-5 months of age. Conclusion: These results show that after the introduction of a rotavirus vaccine in Korea, the incidence of rotavirus gastroenteritis decreased in 6-59-month-old patients hospitalized for acute gastroenteritis.