Evaluation of benign afebrile convulsions in 16 children with rotavirus gastroenteritis

In this study, we aimed to investigate the demographic, clinical, and laboratory findings of the patients hospitalized with rotavirus gastroenteritis-related afebrile seizure, retrospectively. The study population consisted of 16 patients (9 girls and 7 boys) with a mean age of 13.81 ± 5.98 months (age range 6–26). The male/female ratio was 0.77. None of the patients had any psychomotor developmental retardation. Neurological examinations of all the patients were normal. There were 7 patients with generalized tonic (43.75%), 8 generalized tonic–clonic (50%), and 1 focal seizure (6.25%). The duration of the seizures varied at a range of 2–7 min (mean 3.68 ± 1.35 min). The period between the onset of the clinical findings of the rotavirus infection and the occurrence of the seizures was ranged from 12 to 48 h (mean 31.5 ± 12.2 h). The prognosis of the rotavirus gastroenteritis-related afebrile convulsions was generally benign. Rotavirus infection should be taken into consideration in infants with gastroenteritis and afebrile convulsions.