ABSTRACT
Considerando el bajo reporte de enfermos de cólera y con el propósito de conocer la realidad del problema en el Distrito Villa El Salvador, de la introducción de Vibrio cholerae (V. cholerae) en Perú, se tomó una muestra de 101 casos con enfermedad diarreica aguda (EDA) seleccionados por un muestreo sistemático a partir de un arranque aleatorio definido para cada unidad asistencial del Distrito, según la ocurrencia promedio diaria de casos con EDA atendidos respectivamente durante la semana precedente a la realización del estudio. A todos les fue llenada una encuesta epidemiológica, se les tomó también una muestra por hisopado rectal para aislamiento de V. cholerae, se encontraron 53 casos positivos (52,2 % y un intervalo de confianza entre 42,29 y 62,5 %) con diferencias significativas (p < 0,01) entre la frecuencia en adultos (67,3 %) respecto a los niños (34,8 %). Sólo en 13 (61,9 %) de los 21 casos con antecedentes de contacto con enfermos de cólera se aisló V. cholerae, para un riesgo relativo de 1,24 (0,83
Taking to consideration the low report of cholera patients and with the main knowing the reality about the introduction of Vibrio cholerae (V. cholerae) in Peru, a sample of 101 cases with acute diarrheal disease (ADD) was taken at the Distrito Villa El Salvador. They were selected by a systematic randomized sampling defined for each health care unit in the District, according to the daily average occurence of ADD cases attended a week before the beginning of the study. All of them took part in a epidemiological survey. A sample was taken by rectal swab in order to isolate V. cholerae. 53 positive cases were found (52.2 % and a confidence interval from 42.29 to 62.5 %) with significant differences (p < 0.01) between the frecuency in adults (67.3 %) and children (34.8 %). V. cholerae was isolated only in 13 (61.9 %) of the 21 cases who had contact with cholera patients, for a relative risk of 1.24 (0.83 < RR < 1.85). A high positivity was also found, 21 cases (72.4 %) among those who had raw food. A significant difference (p < 0.01) was observed in connection with those who had cooked food. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis it was only found a significant relationship with age and with the ingestion of raw food as regards the occurrence of cholera.