Viral gastroenteritis

Ulrich Desselberger; Jim Gray

doi:10.1383/medc.33.4.78.64361

Viral gastroenteritis

Medicine (Abingdon). 2005 Apr 1;33(4):78-81. doi: 10.1383/medc.33.4.78.64361. Epub 2006 Oct 30.

Authors

Ulrich Desselberger¹, Jim Gray²

Affiliations

¹ is Visiting Scientist in the Unité Mixte de Recherche Virologie Moléculaire et Structurale at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
² is Head of the Enteric Virus Unit, Specialist and Reference Microbiology Division at the Health Protection Agency, London, UK.

Abstract

Rotaviruses, caliciviruses, enteric adenoviruses and astroviruses are common causes of acute gastroenteritis in humans. Their particle and genome structure, classification, replication and pathogenesis, diagnosis, clinical features, epidemiology, disease and outbreak management, and vaccine development are discussed. In the immunocompromized (often infected with HIV), cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus, picobirnaviruses and atypical adenoviruses have also been found to be associated with diarrhoea, often chronic. Uncommon causes of diarrhoea are infections with enteroviruses, orthoreoviruses, toroviruses, coronaviruses and parvoviruses.

Keywords: astrovirus; calicivirus; chronic enteric infection; enteric adenovirus; gastrointestinal infections; immunodeficiency; infections; rotavirus; vaccines; viral gastroenteritis.