Abstract
This research is based on a retrospective analysis of medical records filed in the archives of the emergency departments of Kalembe-lembe Hospital in Kinshasa city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The study involved 324 records of patients aged 0-71 months admitted to the emergency departments and hospitalized for acute diarrhea from January 1 to December 31, 2015. The aim was to inventory the cases of rotavirus diarrhea and/or other germs (individually or in combination) to study their epidemiological and clinical aspects. Thus, the epidemiological and clinical parameters (age, sex, season, symptoms, frequency and physical aspects of stools, dehydration status and duration of hospitalization) of diarrheic children diagnosed as positive for rotavirus were compared with those infected with other germs (individually or in combination with rotavirus or other viruses). The search for the etiological agents of the diarrhea was performed in 56.48% of the cases. The results of this work allowed us to show: (i) a predominance of infections by viruses (69.94%) including rotavirus (48.08%), (ii) high rates of infections by etiological agents of diarrhea including rotavirus in children under 12 months, (iii) a high proportion of vomiting, fever, physical asthenia and restlessness or frequent and liquid stools or moderate dehydration in children infected with rotavirus, (iv) specific clinical pictures according to the etiological agents of diarrhea or their combinations.
Highlights
Acute childhood diarrhea is a global public health problem because it is responsible for significant mortality in developing countries [1]
The results of this work allowed us to show: (i) a predominance of infections by viruses (69.94%) including rotavirus (48.08%), (ii) high rates of infections by etiological agents of diarrhea including rotavirus in children under 12 months, (iii) a high proportion of vomiting, fever, physical asthenia and restlessness or frequent and liquid stools or moderate dehydration in children infected with rotavirus, (iv) specific clinical pictures according to the etiological agents of diarrhea or their combinations
The monthly distribution of acute diarrhea cases among children aged 0-71 months in 2015 (Figure 1) at Kalembe-lembe Hospital shows a predominance of patients in June and September, two months that do not belong to the same climatic season
Summary
Acute childhood diarrhea is a global public health problem because it is responsible for significant mortality in developing countries [1]. Acute diarrhea causes 3 to 4 million medical consultations and is the second leading cause of childhood hospitalization, with 7 to 10% of hospitalizations before the age of five. The annual incidence of acute childhood diarrhea in these countries is estimated between 1.3 and 2.3 episodes per child [2,3,4]. Diarrhea is a major cause of mortality and morbidity (1.4 to 2.5 million deaths in 2000), with an annual incidence of 3 to 9 episodes per child [2,5,6], corresponding to 2 to 4 times more than among children in developed countries. Among the main infectious causes of acute diarrhea, viruses namely rotavirus are important [1,7]
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