Gastroenteritis in sentinel general practices, the Netherlands

From 1996 to 1999, the incidence of gastroenteritis in general practices an d the role of a broad range of pathogens in the Netherlands were studied. A ll patients with gastroenteritis who had visited a general practitioner wer e reported. All patients who had visited a general practitioner for gastroe nteritis (cases) and an equal number of patients visiting for nongastrointe stinal symptoms (controls) were invited to participate in a case-control st udy. The incidence of gastroenteritis was 79.7 per 10,000 person years. Cam pylobacter was detected most frequently (10% of cases), followed by Giardia lamblia (5%), rotavirus (5%), Norwalk-like viruses (5%) and Salmonella (4% ). Our study found that in the Netherlands (population 15.6 million), an es timated 128,000 persons each year consult their general practitioner for ga stroenteritis, slightly less than in a comparable study in 1992 to 1993. A pathogen could be detected in almost 40% of patients (bacteria 16%, viruses 15%, parasites 8%).