Etiology, epidemiology and clinical characteristics of acute diarrhea in hospitalized children in rural Peru

Abstract

Introduction: Diarrhea remains one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in children under five years of age especially in low-income countries. In Peru, epidemiological reports about enteropathogens related to acute diarrhea are scarce in rural areas. The aim of this study was to describe the etiology, epidemiology, and clinical characteristics of the principal causes of acute infectious diarrhea in in a northern rural region of Peru. Methodology: A prospective study was conducted from January 2011 to December 2012 to describe the main pathogens causing acute diarrhea using PCR assay. Results: A total of 117 children diagnosed with acute diarrhea were included in the study. A single etiological agent was identified in 41.03% of samples, being rotavirus followed by norovirus and Shigella. Co-infections containing virus and bacteria were found in 22.22% of samples. Vomiting was most commonly found symptoms in 58.97% cases followed by fever (54.70%). Malnutrition was detected in 14.53% of the children. Conclusions: High prevalence of rotavirus, as well as adenovirus and norovirus, was observed in the present study. Shigella was the most common bacteria found in acute diarrhea in the area. The implementation of a better surveillance system is mandatory in order to identify the principal etiologies of gastroenteritis in the rural areas of Peru and to develop of better prevention strategies and reduce diarrhea-associated mortalities.

Gut microbiota in hospitalized children with acute infective gastroenteritis caused by virus or bacteria in a regional Peruvian hospital

“…A secondary analysis was performed on stools samples from a cross-sectional study in children under 5 years of age hospitalized due to an acute infective gastroenteritis (AIG) at Hospital Docente Regional de Cajamarca in rural Northern Peru ( Cornejo-Tapia et al., 2017 ).…”

“…The original study enrolled 117 hospitalized children with AIG from January 2010 to December 2012 for etiological identification in stool samples of the following pathogens: Rotavirus, Adenovirus, Norovirus, C. jejuni , C. coli , Shigella , Salmonella , Enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) and Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) ( Cornejo-Tapia et al., 2017 ).…”

A universal set of primers to study animal associated microeukaryotic communities

“…The ctenophore gut and body were extracted and homogenized and DNA was extracted with DNA Power Soil (MoBio). Human stool samples were obtained from children less than 5 years of age who were hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis from January 2011 to April 2014 in the "Hospital Docente Regional de Cajamarca" located in Cajamarca Department, in rural Northern Peru [34]. Genetic material from faecal suspensions were extracted using the High Pure RNA Isolation Kit (Roche Applied Science) in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.…”

Gut microbiota in hospitalized children under 5 years with acute infective gastroenteritis caused by virus or bacteria in regional Peruvian Hospital

“…The data obtained from a cross-sectional study in children under 5 years of age hospitalized due to an acute infective gastroenteritis (AIG) at "Hospital Docente Regional de Cajamarca" in rural Northern Peru [15], was analyzed.…”

“…The original study [15] Eubacterium, Proteobacteriu. However, the original study´s authors proceeded to describe the frequencies regardless of the bacterial gender or phylum, so the present study took it into account to pursue the main objective.…”