title: Prevalence and etiology of nosocomial diarrhoea in children < 5 years in Tikrit teaching hospital.
abstract: A cross-sectional hospital-based study was carried out at Tikrit teaching hospital, Iraq, from October 2004 to September 2005, to identify the prevalence and etiology of nosocomial infectious diarrhoea among children under 5 years of age. Of 259 children admitted to the paediatric ward for reasons other than diarrhoea and hospitalized for more than 3 days, clinical and laboratory analysis of stool samples showed nosocomial diarrhoea in 84 children (32.4%). The most common causative agents were enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (25.9%), Clostridium difficile (21.0%) and rotavirus (18.5%). Single infectious agents caused 63.1% of the cases, while mixed infections were detected in 16.7%; in 20.2% of children the cause remained unknown.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, College of Medicine, University of Tikrit, Tikrit, Iraq.
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Alrifai
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alsaadi
authors.forename: Y A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Mahmood
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Al-Kaisi
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D015984:Causality; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016360:Clostridioides difficile; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000150:complications*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D054308:Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D017053:Infection Control; D007493:Iraq / Q000453:epidemiology; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000150:complications*; D017678:Sex Distribution