Acute respiratory infection in children--a survey in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.

A survey was carried out in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh to determine the magnitude of the problem of Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) in children below five years of age. ARI associated mortality rates were found to be 15 times higher in infants than in the 1-4 year age group. However, overall ARI associated mortality was only 2.01 per thousand with an estimated case fatality ratio of 0.4 per thousand. A reverse trend in morbidity was noted in which 2-week incidence of ARI was more in 1-4 years age group than in infants. There is a need to standardize diagnosis and treatment of ARI disease in the district in order to eliminate wasteful use of antibiotics.