title: Etiology of acute childhood diarrhoea in Calcutta.
abstract: Of the 152 cases of acute diarrhoea, 124 (81.5%) revealed potential pathogens. Altogether 27 (21.2%) out of 127 strains of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter, Proteus and Acinetobacter produced enterotoxin. Single pathogenic bacteria (40 cases 26.3%), parasite (6; 6%), rota virus (6; 6%), toxigenic bacteria (19; 12.5%) and mixed agents (37; 24.24.3%) were recorded in 108 cases (71.0%). Another 14 (9.2%) cases exclusively revealed moderate to heavy growth of suspected enteric pathogens like K. pneumoniae, Proteus, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, anaerogenic E. coli and Citrobacter and 2 (1.3%) had high counts of T'. hominis. Of the known pathogens, the preponderance of A. hydrophila (24.4%), rota virus (15.7%) and Aeromonas hydrophila (14.0%) in 1-4 y, Vibrio cholerae (45.6%) and Trichuris trichiura (13.0%) in 4-14 y age group is highlighted. Other pathogenic bacteria were non-01 V. cholerae (3.2%), V. parahaemolyticus (2.6%), V. fluvialis (0.6), Plesiomonas shigelloides (3.9%), Salmonella (2.6%), Shigella (1.9%), EPEC (1.9%), EEC (5.2%) and Campylobacter jejuni (3.9%) and the parasites were Entamoeba histolytica (2.6%) and Giardia intestinalis (2.6). Comparative study of age matched controls with those of diarrhoea suggested the pathogenic role of E. histolytica and T. hominis.
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thawani
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Sanyal
mesh_terms: D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*