Incidence of diarrhea among groups of children in the city of Seville

We studied prospectively the cases of diarrhoea that were produced during one year of follow-up in three groups of children (31 newborn, 62 of 1 year and 51 of 2 years) selected randomly from the Civil Register of Sevilla. The incidence of diarrhoea was 47 episodes for every 100 children per year, with a peak of higher incidence detected in July and August. Diarrhoea was more frequent in children of low socioeconomic level. The most common producers of diarrhoea were rotavirus (30%) and enteropathogenic E. coli (12%). The most frequent accompanying symptoms of diarrhoea were anorexia (68%), fever (35%), abdominal pain (32%) and vomiting (30%).