Risk factors for death identified for children with diarrhea in rural Kenya

A hospital-based surveillance study conducted by Ciara O'Reilly of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA and colleagues describes the risk factors for death amongst children who have been hospitalized with diarrhea in rural Kenya.

Reporting in this week's PLoS Medicine, the authors found that infections with nontyphoidal Salmonella and with Shigella (but not with rotavirus) were associated with an increased risk of death.

The authors state that: "This study can help inform policy makers on priority areas for interventions to reduce childhood diarrhea requiring hospitalization or resulting in death, such as the use of zinc for diarrhea management, reemphasis on community level promotion of [oral rehydration solution], water, sanitation and hygiene interventions, and the development and roll-out of new enteric vaccines."