Acute childhood diarrhoea in Naples: an aetiologic study.

A potential aetiologic agent was detected in the stools of 56% of 118 children hospitalized in Naples for acute diarrhoea. Rotavirus and Salmonella were the agents most commonly associated with disease, accounting for 23 and 17 percent of cases, respectively. Campylobacter jejuni, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, Yersinia and Shigella were less frequently isolated (total, 11% of cases). These findings fit well with the epidemiological picture described for other developed countries, except for the isolation rate of Salmonella which widely exceeds that reported in other investigations. Cytotoxic strains of E. coli and other Gram-negative bacilli were identified in the stools of 18 children; the possible pathogenic role of these strains is unknown and needs further investigation.