| Objective: To find out a Laboratorial diagnosis in the detection of astrovirus, to understand the clinical characteristics of astrovirus infection among inpatients of diarrhea, and to understand the epidemiological and clinical distinction between astrovirus and rotavirus. Methods: Using the ELISA and RT-PCR to detect Rotavirus and astrovirus respectively in stool of the 117 in-patient children diagnosed of enteritis in 2003. The astrovirus positive specimens tested by RT-PCR firstly were serotyped by RT-PCR secondly using the serotype-specific primers, the epidemiological and clinical data including age, season distribution, chief symptoms were compared and analysed. Results: Rotavirus antigen was found positive in 35 specimens from the 117 children, the positive rate was 29.9%, astrovirus was found positive in 10 specimens and the positive rate was 8.99%. We did not found any cases infected with both viruses. The average age of children infected with astrovirus was less than that of rotavirus (6.60 ± 4.01 months vs 11.46 ± 6.11 months, P < 0.05). Rotavirus and astrovirus infections occurred mostly in cold season. The clinical representationcomprised mainly diarrhea, fever, vomit and dehydration in some extent, we found no notable statistical distinction from those symptoms occurrence rate and duration of the two virus. Finally, the 10 astrovirus positive specimens were serotyped, 8 of them were serotype 1 and the others were serotype 2. Conclusions: Except that patients infected with astrovirus were younger than those infected with rotavirus, infection of the two viruses was similar; The predominate serotype in Chengdu was serotype 1 in 2003; RT-PCR may be an ideal method to detect and serotype astrovirus.
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