Diagnosis of rotavirus gastroenteritis by smell.
Poulton J., Tarlow MJ.
Clinical features cannot differentiate rotavirus gastroenteritis from other types of diarrhoea. Sixty eight stool specimens were examined by nurses on an infant gastroenteritis ward. Of these, 69% were correctly classified by smell alone. The results are significant (p = 0.009) and support the suggestion that rotavirus stools have a characteristic smell.