title: The high burden of cholera in children: comparison of incidence from endemic areas in Asia and Africa.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cholera remains an important public health problem. Yet there are few reliable population-based estimates of laboratory-confirmed cholera incidence in endemic areas around the world.
  
  
  METHODS
  We established treatment facility-based cholera surveillance in three sites in Jakarta (Indonesia), Kolkata (India), and Beira (Mozambique). The annual incidence of cholera was estimated using the population census as the denominator and the age-specific number of cholera cases among the study cohort as the numerator.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The lowest overall rate was found in Jakarta, where the estimated incidence was 0.5/1000 population/year. The incidence was three times higher in Kolkata (1.6/1000/year) and eight times higher in Beira (4.0/1000/year). In all study sites, the greatest burden was in children under 5 years of age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are considerable differences in cholera incidence across these endemic areas but in all sites, children are the most affected. The study site in Africa had the highest cholera incidence consistent with a growing impression of the large cholera burden in Africa. Burden estimates are useful when considering where and among whom interventions such as vaccination would be most needed.
authors.affiliation: International Vaccine Institute, Seoul, Korea. jdeen@ivi.int
authors.forename: Jacqueline L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Deen
authors.forename: Lorenz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: von Seidlein
authors.forename: Dipika
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sur
authors.forename: Magdarina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Agtini
authors.forename: Marcelino E S
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Lucas
authors.forename: Anna Lena
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.forename: Deok Ryun
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Clemens
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D017677:Age Distribution; D001208:Asia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002771:Cholera / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence