Childhood diarrhoea in a low-income urban community in Bangkok: incidence, clinical features, and child caretaker's behaviours.

A one-year surveillance study of childhood diarrhoea in a low-income urban community in Bangkok revealed an annual incidence of 2.2 episodes per child among infants, and that the overall annual incidence among children under five years of age was 0.9 per child. Rotavirus, Salmonella and Campylobacter jejuni were common aetiologic agents. In children less than one year, diarrhoea was caused mostly by rotavirus and Salmonella. In 1-2 year old children, the major causative agent was rotavirus while E. coli, Campylobacter jejuni and Shigella were subsequent aetiologic agents. In grown up children (aged 2-5 years), the more common diarrhoeal pathogens were Shigella and E. coli. The clinical characteristics of diarrhoeal illness due to different pathogens were shown. The sources of drugs and the usage of available facilities in treating diarrhoea are also described. Caretakers treated childhood diarrhoea with ORS (53%), antibiotics (10%), and a combination of these in 15% of cases. These findings imply that the available facilities in this community can be better utilised to obtain more effective control of diarrhoeal morbidity and mortality.