Hn. Bashour et al., A COMMUNITY-BASED STUDY OF ACUTE RESPIRATORY-INFECTIONS AMONG PRESCHOOL-CHILDREN IN SYRIA, Journal of tropical pediatrics, 40(4), 1994, pp. 207-213
A longitudinal community-based study of the epidemiology of acute resp
iratory infections (ARI) in children less than 5 years old was carried
out in a low income peri-urban area of Syria. A total of 1030 childre
n were followed up by meekly morbidity surveillance for a period of 24
weeks, starting September 1989. The results revealed that, on average
, a child suffered 3.4 episodes of ARI per 100 child-days at risk. The
average prevalence of ARI was 23 per cent of time of observation. The
peak age-specific incidence occurred in children 6-12 months old for
cough/cold, and in children 0-5 months for pneumonia. Male children ex
perienced higher incidence and prevalence of ARI. The most frequently
reported symptoms were nasal discharge and cough.