Abstract
This study's aim was to analyze the characteristics and severity of acute gastroenteritis related to infection with rotavirus (group R), nontyphoid Salmonella (NTS; group S), and infection with both rotavirus and Salmonella (group B) in children in southern Taiwan in order to improve diagnosis and expedite appropriate management. The medical records of children admitted between October 2002 to September 2008 for acute gastroenteritis related to rotavirus, NTS, or coinfection were collected and analyzed.Among 2040 reviewed medical records, 40 patients were infected with both pathogens, while 501 cases were infected with rotavirus alone and 189 were infected with NTS alone. There were no significant differences between the three groups in terms of age at admission or sex. The age distribution of the reviewed cases revealed that children between the ages of 12-24 months comprised the largest proportion of cases in each group. Higher concentrations of fecal leukocytes and fecal pus cells and longer hospitalizations were observed in group B in comparison with groups S and R (p < 0.05). Clinical severity was significantly higher in groups B and S than group R (p < 0.05). A proportional association was found between the monthly case number of rotavirus infections and the mean monthly temperature difference in southern Taiwan (r = 0.9248; p < 0.0001). In summary, concomitant rotavirus infection with NTS infection did not affect the clinical manifestations of the reviewed patients. Rotavirus infection was less severe in most clinical manifestations, but vomiting was more severe in rotavirus-infected patients. Positive fecal leukocytes and positive fecal pus cells were more frequent during coinfection. There was a strong positive relationship between the incidence of rotavirus gastroenteritis and the mean monthly temperature difference.