High detection rates of enteropathogens in asymptomatic children attending day care.

<h4>Background</h4>Gastroenteritis morbidity is high among children under the age of four, especially amongst those who attend day care.<h4>Objective</h4>To determine the prevalence of a range of enteropathogens in the intestinal flora of children attending day care and to re...

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Main Authors: Remko Enserink, Rianne Scholts, Patricia Bruijning-Verhagen, Erwin Duizer, Harry Vennema, Richard de Boer, Titia Kortbeek, Jeroen Roelfsema, Henriette Smit, Mirjam Kooistra-Smid, Wilfrid van Pelt
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0089496&type=printable
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author Remko Enserink
Rianne Scholts
Patricia Bruijning-Verhagen
Erwin Duizer
Harry Vennema
Richard de Boer
Titia Kortbeek
Jeroen Roelfsema
Henriette Smit
Mirjam Kooistra-Smid
Wilfrid van Pelt
author_facet Remko Enserink
Rianne Scholts
Patricia Bruijning-Verhagen
Erwin Duizer
Harry Vennema
Richard de Boer
Titia Kortbeek
Jeroen Roelfsema
Henriette Smit
Mirjam Kooistra-Smid
Wilfrid van Pelt
author_sort Remko Enserink
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Gastroenteritis morbidity is high among children under the age of four, especially amongst those who attend day care.<h4>Objective</h4>To determine the prevalence of a range of enteropathogens in the intestinal flora of children attending day care and to relate their occurrence with characteristics of the sampled child and the sampling season.<h4>Methods</h4>We performed three years of enteropathogen surveillance in a network of 29 child day care centers in the Netherlands. The centers were instructed to take one fecal sample from ten randomly chosen children each month, regardless of gastrointestinal symptoms at time of sampling. All samples were analyzed for the molecular detection of 16 enteropathogenic bacteria, parasites and viruses by real-time multiplex PCR.<h4>Results</h4>Enteropathogens were detected in 78.0% of the 5197 fecal samples. Of the total, 95.4% of samples were obtained from children who had no gastroenteritis symptoms at time of sampling. Bacterial enteropathogens were detected most often (most prevalent EPEC, 19.9%), followed by parasitic enteropathogens (most prevalent: D. fragilis, 22.1%) and viral enteropathogens (most prevalent: norovirus, 9.5%). 4.6% of samples related to children that experienced symptoms of gastroenteritis at time of sampling. Only rotavirus and norovirus were significantly associated with gastroenteritis among day care attendees.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Our study indicates that asymptomatic infections with enteropathogens in day care attendees are not a rare event and that gastroenteritis caused by infections with these enteropathogens is only one expression of their presence.
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spelling doaj-art-ecf53b712e4f4f4e9663ce5e28804f2a2025-08-20T02:15:20ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-0192e8949610.1371/journal.pone.0089496High detection rates of enteropathogens in asymptomatic children attending day care.Remko EnserinkRianne ScholtsPatricia Bruijning-VerhagenErwin DuizerHarry VennemaRichard de BoerTitia KortbeekJeroen RoelfsemaHenriette SmitMirjam Kooistra-SmidWilfrid van Pelt<h4>Background</h4>Gastroenteritis morbidity is high among children under the age of four, especially amongst those who attend day care.<h4>Objective</h4>To determine the prevalence of a range of enteropathogens in the intestinal flora of children attending day care and to relate their occurrence with characteristics of the sampled child and the sampling season.<h4>Methods</h4>We performed three years of enteropathogen surveillance in a network of 29 child day care centers in the Netherlands. The centers were instructed to take one fecal sample from ten randomly chosen children each month, regardless of gastrointestinal symptoms at time of sampling. All samples were analyzed for the molecular detection of 16 enteropathogenic bacteria, parasites and viruses by real-time multiplex PCR.<h4>Results</h4>Enteropathogens were detected in 78.0% of the 5197 fecal samples. Of the total, 95.4% of samples were obtained from children who had no gastroenteritis symptoms at time of sampling. Bacterial enteropathogens were detected most often (most prevalent EPEC, 19.9%), followed by parasitic enteropathogens (most prevalent: D. fragilis, 22.1%) and viral enteropathogens (most prevalent: norovirus, 9.5%). 4.6% of samples related to children that experienced symptoms of gastroenteritis at time of sampling. Only rotavirus and norovirus were significantly associated with gastroenteritis among day care attendees.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Our study indicates that asymptomatic infections with enteropathogens in day care attendees are not a rare event and that gastroenteritis caused by infections with these enteropathogens is only one expression of their presence.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0089496&type=printable
spellingShingle Remko Enserink
Rianne Scholts
Patricia Bruijning-Verhagen
Erwin Duizer
Harry Vennema
Richard de Boer
Titia Kortbeek
Jeroen Roelfsema
Henriette Smit
Mirjam Kooistra-Smid
Wilfrid van Pelt
High detection rates of enteropathogens in asymptomatic children attending day care.
PLoS ONE
title High detection rates of enteropathogens in asymptomatic children attending day care.
title_full High detection rates of enteropathogens in asymptomatic children attending day care.
title_fullStr High detection rates of enteropathogens in asymptomatic children attending day care.
title_full_unstemmed High detection rates of enteropathogens in asymptomatic children attending day care.
title_short High detection rates of enteropathogens in asymptomatic children attending day care.
title_sort high detection rates of enteropathogens in asymptomatic children attending day care
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0089496&type=printable
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