Rotavirus‐Associated Necrotizing Enterocolitis After Cardiac Catheterization in Infants

Necrotizing enterocolitis is common in preterm and low birth weight infants but rare beyond the neonatal period. Various infectious agents including bacterial and viral organisms have been implicated in its pathogenesis. Rotavirus has recently been shown to be associated with necrotizing enterocolitis. In this report we describe two infants with congenital cardiac disease who developed fulminating necrotizing enterocolitis after cardiac catheterization. Both infants were beyond the newborn period and developed enterocolitis during an epidemic of rotaviral infection. We postulate a relationship between rotavirus infection and the development of necrotizing enterocolitis in older infants with congenital heart disease after cardiac catheterization.