TITLE:
Ascites as a Symptom of a Rotavirus Infection—Case Report
AUTHORS:
Sabina Wiecek, Urszula Grzybowska-Chlebowczyk, Halina Wos
KEYWORDS:
Rotavirus Infection, Ascites, Children
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Infectious Diseases,
Vol.4 No.2,
June
9,
2014
ABSTRACT: Rotaviruses (RV) are the most common cause
of acute diarrhoea in children. The course of RV in-fections may vary from a
mild to a serious course of diarrhoea with significant disturbances to the
water-electrolyte and acid-base homeostasis and complications requiring
hospitalisation. There are known cases of postinfectious enteropathy and severe
cases may involve a complete villous atrophy and temporary intolerance to
lactose in the course of rotavirus infection. Opinions on the changes in the
permeability of the mucous of the small intestine in the result of ongoing
inflammation are largely diverse. This study presents a very rare complication
of a rotavirus infection which is ascites in a 3-month infant. It seems that
the pathomechanism of ascites in presented patient is very complex and affected
by other factors such as nutritional disorders, including hypoproteinemia and
hypoalbuminemia and immunological factors.