To study the clinical and etiological spectrum of acute watery diarrhea in children aged less than 5 years.

Background- Regional variation is seen in incidence of specific organism causing diarrhea and their clinical presentation. There are no recent studies showing clinico-etiological features. Hence in this study we have tried to study the clinical and etiological spectrum of acute watery diarrhea. Objectives- To study the clinico-etiological profile among patients between 1 months to 5 years of age having acute watery diarrhea. Design- The study was done on 200 children between age 1 month to 5 years with acute watery diarrhea at tertiary hospital in New Delhi India. Clinical details were obtained stool samples were collected within 2 hrs and sent to microbiology department for identification of organism. For viruses ELISA kits were used and for bacteria standard plate cultures were used for isolation. Results- Out of 200 children 19.6% had rotavirus 2% had adenovirus 1.5% had astrovirus 14.5% pathological E coli 7.5% V cholerae 3% had Shigella. Prodromal symptoms of URI was associated with viral organisms had prolonged duration 10-14 days. Among bacteria duration of illness averages a week and fever was present in 90 % of cases in Vibrio cholerae fever and vomiting both were seen among 93% cases. Conclusion- Most common isolated organism was rotavirus among bacteria pathogenic E coli was the commonest organism.