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New findings from 1999 to 2000 Below are brief synopses of some new findings from 3-2000 to 3-2002. This is by no means an all-inclusive review.
Potential role of fomites in the vehicular transmission of human astroviruses. The main finding of this article is that astroviruses are hearty little bugs. The authors monitored survival of astroviruses after being plated and dried on fomite surfaces (in this case paper and china). They were applied with and without fecal material and were heated or cooled. They then examined if the astroviruses survived. In summary, astroviruses are more hearty and persistent than poliovirus, and adenovirus, but less persistent than rotavirus and hepatitis A virus. They were particularly persistent at surviving the drying (dessication) step which is a major indicator of the ability of a virus to survive and be transmitted dried on fomites. The authors conclude that fomite transmission may play a role in the transmission of astrovirus diarrhea. Abad FX, Villena C, Guix S, et al. Potential role of
fomites in the vehicular transmission of human astroviruses.
Proteolytic processing of the astrovirus capsid. The main finding from this article suggests that assembly of astrovirus particles requires cleavage of the N-terminus amino acids of 87-kd. Bass DM, Qiu S. Proteolytic processing of the astrovirus capsid. J Virol 2000; 74: 1810-1814
Detection of astroviruses, enteroviruses, and adenovirus types 40 and 4a in surface waters collected and evaluated by the information collection rule and an integrated cell culture-nested PCR procedure. This article uses a technique called integrated cell culture-reverse transcription PCR (ICC-RT-PCR) to examine the prevalence of various viruses (including astrovirus) in surface water samples. RT-PCR is used to detect the presence of virus in the sample and then the viruses are tested for infectivity in CaC0-2 cells. The results are fairly staggering. In 15 of 29 samples, astrovirus was identified. Eight of those 15 samples contained infectious virus. "Actually, I'll have a coke please. . ." Chapron CD, Ballester NA, Fontaine JH, et al. Detection of astroviruses, enteroviruses, and adenovirus types 40 and 4a in surface waters collected and evaluated by the information collection rule and an integrated cell culture-nested PCR procedure. Appl Environ Microbiol 2000; 66: 2520-2525
Astrovirus enteritis in a chronic lymphocytic leukemia patient treated with fludarabine monphosphate. This article describes a case of astrovirus gastroenteritis in a patient immunosuppressed with FAMP. Treatment consisted of ORT and symptomatic care and the patient recovered. The article suggest that astrovirus infection might be common in patients being immunosuppressed with FAMP. Coppo P, Scieux C, Ferchal F, et al. Astrovirus enteritis in a chronic lymphocytic leukemia patient treated with fludarabine monphosphate. Ann Hematol 2000; 79: 43-45
Asrovirus diarrhea in Egyptian children. This study examined 397 children in rural Egpyt between 1995 and 1998 and monitored them for astrovirus and astrovirus gastroenteritis. The overall incidence rate of astrovirus infection was found to be the same as that of rotavirus, or 0.19 episodes per year per person. Astrovirus caused severe dehydration and diarrhea in 17% of these cases. The most frequent serotype found was type 1 (followed by, in order, 5, 8, 3, 6, 4, 2). This paper thus reinforces the medical importance of astrovirus and emphasizes that it is one of the main causes of infantile diarrhea. Naficy AB, Rao MR, Holmes JL, et al. Asrovirus diarrhea in Egyptian children. J Infect Dis 2000; 182: 685-690
Molecular characterization of a novel recombinant strain of human astrovirus associated with gastroenteritis in children. The result of this paper is the first detection of recombination between human astroviruses. Strains were isolated in Houston, Texas and Mexico City that, through sequence analysis, were shown to have arisen by recombination. Walter JE, Briggs J, Guerrero ML, et al. Molecular characterization of a novel recombinant strain of human astrovirus associated with gastroenteritis in children. Arch Virol. 2001 Dec;146(12):2357-67.
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Created by Gavin
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