• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.49 no.11
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• pp.1186-1193
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• 2006

Purpose : Enterovirus infection is a type of viral infection that occurs relatively frequently in children during summer. It has clinical symptoms of non-specific fever, aseptic encephalomeningitis, gastrointestinal diseases, skin rash and, hand-foot-mouth disease. However, it can also occcaisionally, result in fatal symptoms like myocarditis, epicardial inflammation, transverse myelitis, quadriplegia and etc. There have been epidemic enterovirus studies, but not in the Chungnam area. Therefore, we undertook this study in order to comprehend the cause viruses in this area. Methods: We enlisted 157 children hospitalized with enteroviral infections at Soonchunhyang University hospital in Cheonan between May and August 2005. Cerebrospinal fluids or feces were collected during the acute phase after hospitalization, and observed the cytopathic effects caused by enterovirus and using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results : The number of children hospitalized due to possible enteroviral infection during the period of study was 157. The number of children who tested positive with the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction totalled 32 cases (20.4 percent). Among the children with entroviral diseases, 20 were male and 12 were female, thus the sex ratio of male to female was 1.67:1. Their clinical symptoms included fever most frequently (93.7 percent), was followed by headaches (90.0 percent), meningeal irritation signs (65.0 percent), and abdominal pain (30.0 percent). As for the type of isolated enterovirus, there were 17 cases of echovirus 18 and 6 cases of coxsackievirus B5. Furthermore, there were 2 cases of echovirus 9, 1 case of coxsackievirus A6 and coxsackievirus B3, respectively. But 5 cases were not determined by genotype. Conclusion : Echovirus 18 is circulating in Korea. We reported on identified enteroviruses, including echovirus 18, using RT-PCR in the Chungnam area during the summer of 2005.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.12
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• pp.1212-1216
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• 2003

Purpose : Rotavirus is a leading cause of severe gastroenteritis in infants and young children around the world. The aim of this study is to investigate the fat content in stools of patients with rotaviral enteritis compared to the stools of children who had no gastroenteritis. Methods : Seventy two patients who were admitted to Konkuk University Hospital, College of Medicine from Jun 2001 to May 2002 due to rotaviral enteritis and seventy five patients who were admitted at the same time with other diseases with no gastrointestinal problems as control, were enrolled in this study. The age of patients was from one month to five years. The average age of children with rotaviral enteritis was $17{\pm}11months$ and the average age of control patients was $14{\pm}15months$. Fat content of stools was investigated by acid steatocrit tests in both patients with rotaviral enteritis and control. Results : Acid steatocrit value of patients with rotaviral enteritis was higher than that of control patients. There was no difference in acid steatocrit value of children with rotaviral enteritis among the age groups. In one month- to six month-old infants, there was no difference in acid steatocrit values between the children with rotaviral enteritis and control patients. But, over the age of seven months, the acid steatocrit value of children with rotaviral enteritis was higher than that of control patients. Conclusion : We are of the opinion that fat malabsorption in patients with rotaviral enteritis and steatorrhea in rotaviral enteritis may result from decreased fat absorption in the small intestine.