Etiologic agents in acute vs persistent diarrhea in children under three years of age in peri‐urban Lima, Perú

Abstract

Lanata CF, Black RE, Maurtua D, et al. Etiologic agents in acute vs persistent diarrhea in children under three years of age in peri-urban Lima, Peru. Acta Prediatr 1992;(suppl 381):32-8. Stockholm.In a longitudinal study of acute and persistent diarrhea in 677 children less than three years old in a peri-urban community of Lima, Peru, during 27 months of surveillance, stools were cultured at the beginning of each diarrheal episode and on each subsequent week of illness. Analyzing stool cultures only from children who had not received antibiotic treatment in the 48 h prior to the culture, no association was found between any enteropathogen and persistent diarrhea. We did not find any increase in mixed infections in persistent diarrhea episodes as compared with acute diarrhea, controlling for age, season and anthropometric status. The isolation rate for any given enteropathogen was similar during the first, second, third or later week of illness, but when the presence of a specific enteropathogen was sought in sequential stools within a single episode, no evidence of persistent infection was found. This study shows that in developing countries with a high incidence of diarrheal diseases frequent re-infections with enteropathogens prevalent in the population are one reason for prolonged illnesses. Host factors that increase susceptibility to infection or decrease recovery from illness may also play a role. Further studies of these factors, such as micronutrient deficiencies, are needed to identify a public health intervention to control persistent diarrhea, a condition associated with mortality in many developing countries. 0 Diarrhea, enteropathogens, epidemiology, persistent (chronic, prolonged) CF Lanata, Instituto de Inuestigacion Nutricional, A.P. 18-0191, Lima 18. Peru

Age‐Related Susceptibility to Infection with DiarrheagenicEscherichia coliamong Infants from Periurban Areas in Lima, Peru

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Wasting Is Associated with Stunting in Early Childhood

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Seasonal fluctuations in diet and death during the late horizon: a stable isotopic analysis of hair and nail from the central coast of Peru

“…Published data from modern and archaeological populations from Peru demonstrate the summer is characterized by increased morbidity from such factors as: bacterial diarrhoea (Lanata et al, 1992;Martin et al, 1996;Villa et al, 1999), cholera (Franco et al, 1997;Lama et al, 2004;Lipp et al, 2002;Swerdlow et al, 1992); increased risk of exposure to malaria (Guthman et al, 2001); and parasitic infection (Martinson et al, 2003;Ortega and Bonavia 2003). Many of these diseases would have been a substantial cause of mortality in past populations (e.g., bacterial diarrhoea and parasitic infection); and likely explain the slightly higher mortality rate in the summer relative to the winter.…”