Abstract
During 1985-86, a nation-wide survey was conducted to assess: 1. Prevalence of acute diarrhoea in 1-3 years old children; 2. Etiology and clinical characteristics of acute-onset diarrhoea in children of 1 month to 14 years of age. METHODS: 1. A cohort of 457 healthy children of 1-24 months of age from 3 towns (Milano, Napoli, Messina) was selected accordingly to criteria that made them representative of the town population and perspectively followed at by-weekly intervals for 1 year. 2. 736 children of 1 month to 14 years of age with acute-onset diarrhoea and presenting for care (567 as inpatients) at the 6 participating pediatric Centers (Milano, Mantova, Roma, Napoli, Messina and Palermo) were enrolled and their stools were looked for rotaviral infection (ELISA test), routine microbiology and osmolality and electrolytes. RESULTS: 1) 266 of the 457 healthy young children (58.2%) showed at least one episode of diarrhea during a 12 months follow-up. The number of episodes significantly differed among different towns, and correlated with the social status. 2) Rotavirus was the most common pathogen (30.8%) followed by Salmonella (10.1%) and Campylobacter (6.0%). In 50 of 241 patients in which both stool osmolality and electrolytes were measured (20.8%), diarrhoea was found to be of secretory type; in the remaining, an osmolar-type diarrhoea was present. Mean duration of diarrhoea was 4.1 days. In 25 casos out of 736 (3.4%) it became protracted (>14 days): previous or early use of antibiotics, food intolerances and Rotavirus infections were all found to be significantly more frequent in patients running a protracted course.
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Guandalini, S., Mazzarella, G., Fontana, M. et al. 57 CHILDHOOD ACUTE DIARRHOEA IN ITALY. Pediatr Res 24, 414 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198809000-00080
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198809000-00080