A study of the bacterial and parasitic causes of acute diarrhoea in northern Jordan.

The prevalence of bacterial and parasitic diarrhoeagenic agents in 200 patients suffering from acute diarrhoea and reporting to hospitals and health centres in northern Jordan, and in controls was determined. One or more bacterial or parasitic enteropathogens was isolated from 79 patients (39.5%). Prevalence rates for these pathogens was as follows: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, 9%; enteropathogenic E. coli, 9%; Salmonella spp. 7%; Campylobacter spp, 5.5%; Yersinia enterocolitica, 4.5%; Shigella spp, 4%; Aeromonas spp, 3.5%; enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens, 2%; Vibrio spp, 2%; and Plesiomonas shigelloides, 0.5%. Both Giardia lamblia and Entamoeba histolytica were detected in 2% of the stool samples examined. Although the determination of the aetiologic role of the identified enteropathogens was complicated by more than one factor, the data collected will serve as a baseline for future studies of the subject.