[Outbreak of diarrhea by rotavirus in Bom Jesus city, Piauí State]

This study focused a diarrhea outbreak caused by rotavirus in a city of Piauí State aiming to identify the etiology, protocol of assistance to cases. A case series was carried out with 22 children assisted for acute diarrhea in 2006 in Health Units of Bom Jesus city. The data were collected by means of interviews utilizing forms that were with the help of the children's parents and analysis of the appointment files was performed. Most of the families (59.1%) had a monthly income inferior to the minimum wage, 59.1% utilized septic cesspool, 77.3% consumed water from the public supply system and 54.5% did not drink filtered water. As to age, 54.5% ranged from one to four years, the majority of them featuring an adequate nutritional condition. Among the 22 samples rectal swab collected for coproculture, the following were isolated: E. coli (69.6%), Klebsiella sp (95.6%), Proteus Mirabilis (47.8%). Regarding the 16 samples of feces in natura for the assessment of rotavirus, 100% were positive for G2 genotype; 93.3% for P4 serotype and 7.2% were not typified. We concluded that a continuous monitoring of circulating genotypes is essential, which implies the need of training health professionals to tackle diarrhea down.