Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
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Clin. Microbiol. Infect. · Dec 2014
Diarrhoeagenic microbes by real-time PCR in Rwandan children under 5 years of age with acute gastroenteritis.
Acute gastroenteritis is a main cause of disease and death among children in low-income countries. The causality rates and pathogenic characteristics of putative aetiological agents remain insufficiently known. We used real-time PCR targeting 16 diarrhoeagenic agents to analyse stool samples from children ≤5.0 years old with acute diarrhoea in Rwanda. ⋯ Rotavirus, ETEC-estA and E. coli with bfpA were associated with younger age, Shigella with older age. Antibiotic treatment was given to 42% and was associated with dehydration, fever and CRP, but not with pathogen. We conclude that rotavirus and ETEC-estA were the most important causes of diarrhoea with dehydration, that Shigella caused bloody diarrhoea but less severe dehydration, that microbial loads of rotavirus, ETEC-estA and Shigella were associated with severity of symptoms, and that antibiotic use was frequent and in poor agreement with microbiological findings.