[Infectious agents in diarrhea of hospitalized children in Costa Rica].

Shigella, toxigenic Escherichia coli (stable toxin) and rotaviruses were frequently found among 50 children hospitalized with diarrhea studied during one year. These agents were less common among 45 controls without diarrhea, of comparable age and from the same wards as the cases reported. There was a greater frequency of respiratory symptoms in the diarrhea associated with rotaviruses. These were characterized by frequent bowel movements and vomiting and often fever. The bacterial diarrheas showed, in general, a more severe clinical picture than the viral ones. The rotaviruses had a low endemic level during April-October, but their prevalence increased in December and January; in such months these viruses were found in more than 50 per cent of the diarrheal cases.