Etiology of acute diarrheas in children from the Lodz region. I. Occurrence of etiologic agents

The aim of this study was determination of the etiologic agents (bacterial, fungal or viral) of acute diarrheas in children from the ?ód? region, suffering from acute diarrhoea during the period from October 1998 to February 2001. Rotaviruses were detected by the latex test. Other microorganisms belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonadaceae and Vibrionaceae families, as well as the genera Listeria, Campylobacter, Candida, Staphylococcus were cultured on standard or selective culture media according to the NDH recommendations and identification by means of API system. Acute diarrhea in 155 small children below 6 years of age from the ?ód? region were caused by rotaviruses (n = 42; 27%). Enteropathogenic strains of Escherichia coli (n = 25; 16.1%) occupied the third place after Salmonella bacteria (n = 30; 19.3%--second place). Among bacterial etiologic factors of diarrhea Campylobacter bacteria showed high frequency of occurrence (n = 22; 14.1%). The investigations enabled identification both the mixed infections (n = 25; 16.1%) and more rare etiologic agents of diarrhea. CONCLUSIONS: 1. Acute diarrhea in children from the region ?ód? were most frequently caused by rotaviruses; 2. Modern microbiological diagnostics of acute diarrhea in children should be multilateral, taking account of the mixed infections and expanding the routine search for bacteria of the genus Campylobacter.