Influence of Temperature and Relative Humidity on Human Rotavirus Infection in Japan

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 147; no. 1; pp. 125 - 128
• Main Authors: Konno, T., Suzuki, H., Katsushima, N., Imai, A., Tazawa, F., Kutsuzawa, T., Kitaoka, S., Sakamoto, M., Yazaki, N., Ishida, N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States The University of Chicago Press 01.01.1983; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Adolescent; Child; Child, Preschool; Diarrhea; Electron microscopy; Epidemiology; Feces - microbiology; Gastroenteritis; Gastroenteritis - epidemiology; Gastroenteritis - microbiology; Humans; Humidity; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infections; Japan; Microscopy, Electron; Pediatrics; Relative humidity; Rotavirus; Rotavirus infections; Rotavirus Infections - epidemiology; Seasons; Temperature; Viruses; Japan
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1093/infdis/147.1.125

A climatologic analysis of human rotavirus infection in inpatients with acute diarrhea was conducted over a seven-year period. The infection frequency appeared to be related to temperature, but not to relative humidity. Human rotavirus infection was found to appear abruptly when the mean temperature of any 10-day period became <5 C (November or December), reached a peak when it was <0 C (January and February), and waned when it became >20 C (June and July) in the city of Yamagata in northern Japan.