Acute community-acquired diarrhea requiring hospital admission in Swiss children

In order to ascertain the prevalence of agents that cause childhood diarrheal illness, stool specimens of 312 consecutive children with community-acquired diarrhea requiring admission were evaluated. Pathogens were detected in 166 (53%) of the 312 children (greater than or equal to2 pathogens in 28 children): Rotavirus (n = 75), Salmonella spp, (n = 37), Campylobacter spp, (n = 24), Shigella spp, (n = 5), Giardia spp, (n = 4), Yersinia spp, (n = 2), Aeromonas spp, (n = 15), Cryptosporidium (n = 15), enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (n = 13), enterotoxigenic E, coli (n = 7), and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (n = 5), In conclusion, acute childhood diarrheal illness pathogens, such as Aeromonas, Cryptosporidium, and diarrheagenic E, coli, account for a large proportion of patients with a microbiologically positive stool specimen.