What is viral gastroenteritis? What are the causes and clinical manifestations of viral gastroenteritis?

Viral gastroenteritis, also known as viral diarrhea, is a group of acute intestinal infections caused by a variety of viruses. The clinical features are acute onset, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, drainage or loose stools, fever and general malaise, short course and low mortality. The clinical manifestations of gastroenteritis caused by various viruses are basically similar. There are many types of viruses associated with acute gastroenteritis, among which the more important ones are rotavirus.

What is viral gastroenteritis? What are the causes and clinical manifestations of viral gastroenteritis?

Cause

Pathogens are mainly transmitted through the digestive tract, mainly in infants and young children, often caused by group A rotavirus, the peak incidence in autumn, hence the name of infant autumn diarrhea. Group B rotavirus can cause diarrhea in adults.


Clinical manifestation

1. Ordinary rotavirus gastroenteritis
The incubation period is 1 to 3 days. The condition varies greatly. The symptoms of children aged 6-24 months are heavy, while the older children or adults are mostly mild or subclinical. The onset is urgent, and more vomiting and diarrhea, accompanied by mild to moderate fever. Diarrhea varies from ten to dozens of times a day, and the stool is mostly watery, or yellow-green loose stools, often accompanied by mild or moderate dehydration and metabolic poisoning. Some cases often have symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection before gastrointestinal symptoms appear. The disease is a self-limiting disease with a course of about 1 week. However, in a short period of time, a small number of children still have poor absorption of disaccharides, especially lactose. Diarrhea can last for several weeks, and individual cases can last for several months.

2. Adult diarrhea rotavirus gastroenteritis
The incubation period is 2 to 3 days. The onset is urgent, and there is no fever or low fever. The main symptoms are diarrhea, abdominal pain and abdominal distension. Diarrhea varies from 3 to 10 times a day. It is yellow water or rice soup, and there is no pus. Some cases have symptoms such as nausea and vomiting. The course of disease is 3 to 6 days, and can be as long as 10 days or more.