Acute diarrhoeal disease in XXXX under 7 years of age in a peri-urban slum of Santiago, Chile.

@entity1 @entity294 @entity3147
A group of 168 families who lived in a peri-urban slum in Santiago were surveyed for 9 months. All of them had a @entity1 under 7 years of age. Medical activities and data collection were carried out at a Field Station and by means of twice-weekly visits to each home, at which time cases of @entity294 were recorded and investigated. Faecal samples for bacteriological, parasitological and rotavirus studies were obtained during each episode. The characteristics of clinical course, hygienic practices in the family, and monthly anthropometric measurements of @entity1 and toddlers were also recorded. The mean monthly incidence of @entity294 was 7.1 episodes per 100 @entity1 . Of the episodes, 44.2% were associated with pathogenic bacteria, 14.4% with rotavirus, 38.4% with parasites and in 27.9% no enteropathogens were identified. It was found that adequate hygienic habits were not associated with a decreased risk of developing @entity294 and that about 60% of @entity1 did not have @entity294 throughout the study period. The nutritional status was adequate in most cases: weight-for-age was below the 5th percentile in 11.5% of subjects and the height-for-age was normal in all. No moderate or severe cases of @entity3147 were detected.
