Comparative study of the prevalence and clinical profiles of diarrheas due to Aeromonas and other enteric pathogens.

The prevalence of Aeromonas spp. and other enteric pathogens in stool specimens from diarrheic and non-diarrheic patients was studied over a 12 month period (January to December, 1986). Except for the absence of fever, all the clinical features in Aeromonas diarrhea were comparable to those associated with other diarrheagenic agents. These features included abdominal pain (30%), vomiting (24.5%), fever (31.5%), dehydration (9.5%) and hematochezia (19.5%). Aeromonas spp. were more frequently isolated from patients with gastroenteritis (2.5%) than from control patients (1.0%) (P less than 0.05). Isolates were recovered more often during the dry months (66.7%), than during the wet months (33.3%). Among the enteric pathogens isolated, Aeromonas spp. (2.5%) ranked next to Esch. coli (14.5%) and Shigella spp. (6.3%) in prevalence. Other bacterial isolates included Plesiomonas shigelloides (1.5%) Vibrio spp. (1.0%), Yersinia enterocolitica (1.0%) and Salmonella spp. (1.8%).