Experience with hospitalized children at a training unit for diarrhea treatment, in Medellín, Colombia

Abstract

We present the results of our experience in the in-patient treatment of children with diarrhea. Between 1988 and 1994,1.755 children werehospitalized for this purpose at the Training Unit for Diarrhea Treatment, Hospital San Vicente, in Medellín, Colombia; 1.022 (58.2%) were males and 733 (41.8%) females; 1.078 (61.4%) were younger than one year and 677 (38.6%) were above this age. Eight hundred and eighty eight (50.6%) were undernourished. At admission, persistent diarrhea was found in 418 (23.8%); stools were watery in 1.056 (82.2%) and dysenteric in 213 (16.6%); 16 patients had suffered only vomit. During the previous month, half of the patients (52%) had attended the oral rehydration unit and 276 (15.7%) had been hospitalized because of diarrhea. At admission 670 (38.2%) were hydrated, 151 (8.6%) had serious dehydration and 934 (53.2%) presented other degrees of dehydration. Salmonella enteritidis was the most frequently isolated bacteria (258 cases; 23.9%). Oral or nasogastric fluids were the only therapy in 786 patients (44.8%) while the remaining 969 (55.2%) received intravenous hydration. Final diagnosis was acute diarrhea in 1.088 patients (62%) and persistent diarrhea in 667 (38%); only 27 patients (1.5%) died.