[Nosocomial rotavirus infections in adults]

In February and March 1981, eight patients and two nurses in a women's ward (internal medicine) fell ill with gastroenteritis. Because faecal samples were not available during the acute phase, the diagnosis was made by demonstrating complement-binding antibodies and rotavirus-specific IgM, with 14 persons on the same ward without gastroenteritis serving as controls. The illness took a mild course. All patients had watery diarrhoea and abdominal pain, four had nausea or vomiting, but only one had fever. Thus even in adults with gastroenteritis rotavirus infection should be considered in the differential diagnosis.