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Acute Diarrhoea and Asymptomatic Infection in Chilean Preschoolers of Low and High Socio‐economic Strata
Author(s) -
ARAYA M.,
FIGUEROA G.,
ESPINOZA J.,
ZARUR X.,
BRUNSER O.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1986.tb10265.x
Subject(s) - asymptomatic , medicine , incidence (geometry) , rotavirus , diarrhea , pediatrics , socioeconomic status , population , group a , el niño , gastroenterology , demography , environmental health , physics , sociology , optics
. Preschoolers who belonged to the high (Group I, n = 112) or the low (Group II, n =90) socioeconomic stratum were followed prospectively for six months. Mean monthly incidence of diarrhoea was 3 and 7 episodes per 100 children for Group I and Group II respectively ( p <0.001). Episodes were shorter and affected a smaller proportion of children in Group I ( p <0.002 and p <0.05), respectively). Bacterial enteropathogens were recovered in 12.6% and 13.5% of the episodes in Group I and Group II and parasites in 15.4% and 62.8%, respectively. Rotavirus was detected once in each group. Asymptomatic carrier rates for en‐teropathogenic bacteria were 12.0% in Group I and 7.2% in Group II. The corresponding figures for parasites were 28.2% and 62.8% ( p <0.001). Nutritional status was normal in all children. These results suggest that socioeconomic stratum plays an important role in the characteristics of diarrhoea! illness in the groups which conform the population of the less developed countries. Acute diarrhoea is less frequent in preschoolers living in Santiago than in other developing areas. Rates of asymptomatic infection are high.