Bacterial, viral and parasitic aetiology of paediatric diarrhoea in the highlands of Papua New Guinea

Enteropathogens and clinical features associated with diarrhoea were invest igated in 1526 children admitted over a 5-year period to the paediatric war d of a hospital in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Overall, a recognized pathogen was isolated from 39 per cent of the children admitted with diarr hoea, The most commonly isolated agents were rotavirus (23 per cent), Shige lla spp, (13 per cent), Campylobacter spp, (12 per cent), Cryptosporidium p arvum (10 per cent) and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (8 per cent). The dearest clinical associations were rotavirus with vomiting, and Shigella w ith blood and pus in the stool. A control series of children admitted with other complaints was also included, and the odds ratios for diarrhoea for t he above five pathogens were 18.2, 9.6, 3.7, 2.2, and 1.6, respectively.