Failure of Syndrome-Based Diarrhea Management Guidelines to Detect Shigella Infections in Kenyan Children.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Shigella is a leading cause of childhood diarrhea mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Current World Health Organization guidelines recommend antibiotics for children in non cholera-endemic areas only in the presence of dysentery, a proxy for suspected Shigella infection.

Methods

To assess the sensitivity and specificity of the syndromic diagnosis of Shigella-associated diarrhea, we enrolled children aged 6 months to 5 years presenting to 1 of 3 Western Kenya hospitals between November 2011 and July 2014 with acute diarrhea. Stool samples were tested using standard methods for bacterial culture and multiplex polymerase chain reaction for pathogenic Escherichia coli. Stepwise multivariable logit models identified factors to increase the sensitivity of syndromic diagnos

SUBMITTER: Pavlinac PB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5181358 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature