[Infectious disease in Kenya--epidemiological study of diarrhoeal disease in children]

Abstract

I participated in a project concerning diarrhea in children caused by bacteria (Japan International Cooperation Association) in the Republic of Kenya between April 1993 and March 1994. According to the Health Information Report by the Ministry of Health in 1993, diarrhea was at the 5th most frequent disease among outpatients and these patients numbered about eight hundred thousand. On microbiological examination, diarrhoegenic agents were detected from 767 of 1,362 (56.3%) fecal specimens collected from children under five years of age with diarrhea. Major causative agents were diarrhogenic Escherichia coli (DgEC), Rota virus, Shigella spp., Entamoeba histolytica, Salmonella spp., and Giardia lamblia, which were detected from 17.2%, 11.4%, 6.3%, 5.8%, 5.4% and 3.6%, respectively. The results suggested that diarrhea was caused by drinking water with fecal contamination. We bacteriologically examined drinking water in the patients' houses, and many Enterobacteriaceae were detected in most of the specimens.