Hospitalization of Cuban children for giardiasis: a retrospective study in a paediatric hospital in Havana

The medical records of the 185 children who, in 2007, were admitted to the Academic Paediatric Hospital ‘Centro Habana’, in the Cuban capital of Havana, because of giardiasis were analysed retrospectively. A standardized form was used to collect data on the socio–demographic characteristics, clinical features, laboratory diagnosis, treatment and length of stay of each child. Information on the 15 children who had incomplete medical records was excluded from the data analysis. Of the remaining 170 children, 85 (50.0%) were aged 1–4 years, 97 (57.1%) were male, and 106 (62.4%), 92 (54.1%) and 69 (40.6%) had presented with diarrhoea, vomiting, and/or abdominal pain, respectively. Most (91.2%) of the cases had been diagnosed by the microscopical examination of a duodenal aspirate, and the drugs that had been most used frequently were quinacrine and tinidazole, which had been given to 72 (42.4%) and 62 (36.5%) of the cases, respectively. The mean length of hospital stay was 4.9 days. Such information on the clinical characteristics of giardiasis among children living in an endemic area may be valuable to paediatricians and public-health officials who wish to screen for the disease.