Clinico-Etiological Profile of Hospital Acquired Diarrhea in Children below 15 Years Admitted Attertiary Care Centre-A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Background-Children who are malnourished or have impaired immunity as well as people living with HIV are most at risk of life-threatening diarrhoea. Diarrhoea is defined as the passage of three or more loose or liquid stools per day. Frequent passing of formed stools is not diarrhoea, nor is the passing of loose, "pasty" stools by breastfed babies.

Aim and objectives- To study the aetiologyand prevalence of hospital acquired diarrhoea in children.

Materials and method-age between 1 to 15 years old who were admitted to the pediatric ward over a period of an year for the reasons other than diarrhoea and stayed for more than 3 days in the ward (followed by the criteria of Centre for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]) Detailed history of the patients were obtained which includes lab investigations also.

Results-Total 150 subjects were included into the study in which 62% were males and 38% were female patients. 38.66% patients were in the age group of 1-4 years who suffered with hospital acquired diarrhoea.  EnteropathogenicEscherichiacoli was the main causative infectious agent in 20.66% of patients.

Conclusion- Routine general stool examination, stool culture/sensitivity for detection for microbial infection and Cl difficile should done by ELISA methods for all patients with hospital acquired diarrhea to identify the causative agent. The healthcare strategies and campaign should be improved to reduce the number of such diseases.