Austin Jorski
Summer Research Description: Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is a common reason for individuals to seek care in the outpatient and emergency department settings. However, when patients are seen, their AGE symptoms are assessed and symptomatically treated without identification of the causative pathogen. Prior to rotavirus vaccine introduction, rotavirus was the leading causes of AGE; however, the impact in the post-rotavirus vaccine era is unknown. Therefore, in order to determine the impact of rotavirus vaccine, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sponsored active AGE surveillance study is ongoing to determine the prevalence of the rotavirus as a cause of AGE. In this study, patients between 15 days to 17 years living in Davidson county who present to the Vanderbilt outpatient clinics or emergency department with at least 1 episode of vomiting and/or 3 episodes of diarrhea within 24 hours within the last 10 days are approached. After enrollment the individuals are instructed to collect a stool sample within 10 days of symptom onset for testing, which will then be tested for rotavirus by ELISA. Data collected will be analyzed comparing rotavirus positive to rotavirus negative patients based on age, seasonality of outbreaks, and symptom presentation.