title: The magnitude and distribution of infectious intestinal disease in Malta: a population-based study.
abstract: Routine sources of information on infectious intestinal disease (IID) capture a fraction of the actual disease burden. Population studies are required to measure the burden of illness. A retrospective age-stratified cross-sectional telephone study was carried out in Malta in order to estimate the magnitude and distribution of IID at population level. A random sample of 3504 persons was interviewed by a structured questionnaire between April 2004 and December 2005. The response rate was 99.7%. From the study, the observed standardized monthly prevalence was 3.18% (95% CI 0.7-5.74) with 0.421 (95% CI 0.092-0.771) episodes of IID per person per year. The monthly prevalence was higher in the <5 years age group and in females aged 31-44 years. The mean duration of illness was 6.8 days and a median duration of 3 days. A bimodal seasonal distribution was observed with peaks in June-July and October-November.
authors.affiliation: Disease Surveillance Unit, Department of Public Health, Malta. charmaine.gauci@gov.mt
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gauci
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gilles
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: O'brien
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mamo
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Stabile
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Ruggeri
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gatt
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Calleja
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Spiteri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007410:Intestinal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008319:Malta / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012621:Seasons; D012737:Sex Factors