Travellers' diarrhoea among children returning to the United Kingdom from visits abroad

Abstract

Between January 1984 and March 1986, 10 children aged between 7 and 56 months were admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children in London with chronic travellers' diarrhoea, after visiting the Indian subcontinent, France or Morocco. All the children were born in the United Kingdom and had been in good health before their journey abroad. On return to England most of these children were malnourished and two of them (twins) had a post-infective, tropical malabsorption-like syndrome. There was a high incidence of positive stool cultures and, on small intestinal biopsy, histological abnormalities were present in six. Children from the United Kingdom travelling abroad are at risk of developing severe travellers' diarrhoea, with serious consequences to their health and nutrition. There is a need for intensive parental education before travelling and this could be achieved through community health workers.