Prevalence of human Rhinovirus in stool samples of children with acute gastroenteritis in Italy

BACKGROUND: Gastroenteritis is a common disease in children, characterized by diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and fever. Although human Rhinovirus (HRV) is not expected to survive the digestive tract, it has been detected in both the nose and stool specimens taken at the same time. METHODS: This paper presents the real-time RT-PCR Taqman assay for the detection and quantification of HRV for clinical fecal samples collected from hospitalized children with acute gastroenteritis in Piedmont from December 2014 to November 2015. RESULTS: A total of 11 out of 164 (6.7%) episodes of acute gastroenteritis were associated with HRV genomic detection with median viral load 4124 +/- 9117 genomes/mg fecal specimens. Among the 11 HRV-positive cases, 10 were also positive for other viral pathogens, including Norovirus GII (N.=5), Norovirus GI (N.=1), Rotavirus (N.=1), Norovirus GI, GII and Parechovirus (N.=1), Norovirus GII, Rotavirus and Sapovirus (N.=1) and Sapovirus and Astrovirus (N.=1). A higher detection of HRV infections was observed in autumn/winter, and peaking in March. CONCLUSIONS: Although not formally tested by prospective study and without control groups, our data support the idea that HRV may on some occasions be responsible cause of gastroenteritis.