Prospective study of etiologic agents of acute gastroenteritis outbreaks in child care centers.

Objective: To investigate the etiology of outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in children attending childcare centers (CCCs) in North Carolina between October 2005 and March 2007.

Study Design: In this prospective study of outbreaks of AGE in CCCs, stool specimens from symptomatic children and environmental surface swabs were tested for adenovirus group F, astrovirus, norovirus (NoV), rotavirus group A, and sapovirus using real-time and conventional reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assays, and viruses were genotyped by sequencing.

Results: A total of 29 AGE outbreaks were evaluated, of which 13 (45%) were caused by a single virus, including rotavirus group A (17%), NoV (10%), astrovirus (10%), and sapovirus (7%).