Bacterial contamination in milk kitchens in pediatric hospitals in Salvador, Brazil

Milk may represent an important source of infectious agents to hospitalized pediatric patients. To describe the bacterial microflora isolated from the hands, stools, pharynx of all workers at milk kitchens in pediatric hospitals in the city of Salvador, Brazil, as well as in the formulas prepared by them, we carried out this cross-sectional study with all 91 workers from the 20 milk kitchens of all the public and private hospitals in Salvador, Brazil. Hand and pharynx swabs and stool samples were collected from all workers, as well as samples of the milk and formulas delivered by the kitchens. All samples were cultured for the detection of pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria. Pathogenic bacteria were isolated from 20 (22.0 percent) and 8 (8.8 percent) cultures of the hands and pharynx of the workers, respectively. No pathogenic bacteria were isolated from stool samples. Pathogenic bacteria were isolated from 17 (18.7 percent) milk samples. The prevalence of pathogenic bacteria in hand swabs was significantly higher in workers from public (37.8 percent) than from private (6.5 percent) hospitals (prevalence ratio [PR]=5.8; p<0.01). Pathogenic bacteria were isolated from two (4.4 percent) workers from public hospitals and six (13.0 percent) workers from private hospitals (PR=0.38; p=0.27). Pathogenic bacteria were isolated from 11 (24.4 percent) milk samples from public hospitals and 6 (13.0 percent) from private hospitals (PR=1.9; p=0.16). A high prevalence of contamination was found, mainly on the hands of workers on units for manipulation of milk. Preventive efforts should be intensified and focus primarily on effective hand washing and continuous work supervision.

Incidence of diarrhea in children living in urban slums in Salvador, Brazil

Diarrhea remains a major health issue in developing countries, with high morbidity and mortality rates. Determining the incidence of acute diarrhea in children and its associated factors is crucial to the planning of preventive approaches. The objective of this study was to determine the incidence of diarrhea and to assess some relevant associated factors to it in children younger than 40 months living in two slums of Salvador, Brazil. This is the first prospective cohort, community-based study that was performed in two periurban slums of Salvador, Brazil. Eighty-four children younger than 40 months were randomly selected and visited every other day for one year. The chi-square test was used to evaluate the occurrence of diarrhea and its associated factors. During the surveillance period, 232 diarrhea episodes were identified, resulting in an incidence rate of 2.8 episodes/child/year. In average (mean value of 84 children),each child suffered 11.1 days of diarrhea per year, yielding an average duration of 3.9 days per episode. The highest incidence rates were found among children under one year old. Early weaning, male sex, malnutrition, having a mother younger than 25 years or who considered her child malnourished, missed immunizations and previous pneumonia were associated factors for suffering diarrheal episodes. The rates of incidence and duration of diarrhea that we found are in accordance to those reported by others. Additionally, our results reinforce the importance of environmental and health-related associated factors to the onset of diarrhea.

Incidence of diarrhea: poor parental recall ability

Several methodological issues may have an impact on the incidence rates of childhood acute diarrhea reported by community-based studies. This study was performed to assess the impact of parental recall ability and definition of diarrhea on the estimate of incidence of acute diarrhea. Eighty-four children younger than 40 months were randomly selected and visited every other day for four weeks and the occurrence of diarrhea was registered. On the last day of the study, another visit was performed and the informants were inquired about the occurrence of diarrhea during the previous four weeks. Data gathered during the four weeks were compared to those obtained on the last visit. Additionally, the informants' definition of diarrhea was investigated and compared to the one adopted by this study. During the observation period, 33 children suffered diarrhea, but only 10 (30.3 percent) informants reported the occurrence of diarrhea. Although 42.4 percent of those informants reported that their children had been ill over that period, they did not report diarrhea. Further, 60.6 percent children who had diarrhea suffered at least one episode in the two weeks prior to the visitation. The same definition of diarrhea used in this study was adopted by 52.1 percent of the informants inquired. Parental recall is an unreliable method to estimate the incidence of diarrhea and studies with a short interval between the visits should be necessary to correctly evaluate this important health problem. Moreover, assessing the informants' own definition of diarrhea is a significant contribution to the interpretation of the results.

Frequency of celiac disease and its serological markers in patients with autoimmune hepatitis

Transglutaminase (anti-tTG) and anti-endomysial (AEA) antibodies were reported to occur in patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) as well as in subjects with advanced cirrhosis, but the prevalence of celiac disease (CD) in patients with AIH is either negligible or unknown. The frequency of IgA anti-tTG and IgA AEA was determined in 64 patients (54 females, mean age 19[5-67] years ) with AIH diagnosed according to international criteria. Patients with positive or intermediate results for those antibodies were submitted to duodenal biopsy and HLA-DQ2 or DQ8 typing. Anti-tTG and AEA were detected in 6 (9 por cento) and one patient (1.6 por cento) with AIH, respectively. Positive and borderline results for IgA anti-tTG were detected, respectively, in two (3 por cento) and four (6 por cento) patients. Only one patient with HLA-DQ2 and IgA anti-tTG and IgA AEA had CD on duodenal biopsy. Two patients with either positive or borderline results for IgA anti-tTG antibody and HLA-DQ2 had normal histology on duodenal biopsy. IgA anti-tTG antibody and/or AEA were observed in 9% of AIH patients, but CD was confirmed in only one of them. The occurrence of IgA anti-tTG antibody in the other patients could be ascribed to the presence of chronic liver disease or to latent or potential CD.

Alterações hepáticas na doença celíaca / Liver dysfunction in coeliac disease

O envolvimento do fígado tem sido freqüentemente descrito em pacientes celíacos. Condições como hipertransaminasemia, que retorna a valores normais após a dieta isenta de glúten, doenças hepáticas de origem auto-imune e outras doenças crônicas do fígado, sobretudo a hepatite crônica pelo vírus C, estão associadas com a doença celíaca. O objetivo deste artigo é discutir as relações recentemente evidenciadas na literatura entre essa enteropatia glúten-sensível e os tipos de alterações hepáticas.

Antibiotics for the empirical treatment of acute infectious diarrhea in children

While the routine use of antibiotics for infectious diarrhea in children must be avoided, because it brings little benefit in most cases and is associated with the risk of increasing antimicrobial resistance, selected cases may require antimicrobial therapy, and the choice of the antimicrobial agent often has to be made empirically. Physicians prescribing antimicrobials in such a setting have not only to be aware of the most likely pathogens, but also of their characteristic antimicrobial susceptibility pattern and the safety profile of the various drugs. We reviewed the literature on the use of ampicillin, beta-lactamase inhibitors, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, chloramphenicol, tetracyclines, nalidixic acid, fluoroquinolones, third-generation cephalosporins, macrolides, metronidazole and malabsorbed agents in the setting of acute infectious diarrhea, and we evaluated the available information, seeking to apply it to empirical use, highlighting clinically-useful pharmacological information and patients' and pathogens' characteristics that must be taken into account for decisions about antimicrobial therapy.

Clinical and epidemiological aspects of children hospitalized with severe rotavirus-associated gastroenteritis in Salvador, BA, Brazil

Little is known about the epidemiology of severe rotavirus-associated gastroenteritis in Brazil. Given the morbidity associated with this condition and the importance of having detailed knowledge about the impact of rotavirus infection on the epidemiology of acute diarrhea in children, especially those with the most severe diarrheal conditions, we retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all pediatric patients admitted to a tertiary hospital in Salvador, Brazil, due to rotavirus-associated gastroenteritis during one year. It was observed that rotavirus was responsible for 15.6 percent of the hospitalizations caused by diarrhea and/or vomiting during the period of the study and that 87 of 218 (39.1 percent) patients seen at the emergency room with rotavirus-associated gastroenteritis needed to be hospitalized, comprising the population of our study. Most patients presented signs of dehydration, and 41 percent of them had metabolic acidosis. Most patients (79 percent) were between six months and four years of age and 72 percent of the cases occurred in June and July. Gastrointestinal symptoms were rarely present at the beginning of the clinical presentation, and they normally did not last for more than one week.

Epidemiological and microbiological aspects of acute bacterial diarrhea in children from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

In the few cases of acute childhood diarrhea that require antimicrobial therapy, the correct choice of the drug depends on detailed previous knowledge of local strains. In order to establish such parameters in our city, we reviewed the results of all 260 positive stool cultures of children between 0 and 15 years of age during two years at a pediatric tertiary care facility in Salvador, Brazil. Bacterial strains had been presumptively identified by culturing in selective media and by biochemical testing, and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns were automatically detected by the MicroScan Walkaway System. Data about patients' sex and age, monthly distribution of the cases, pathogens isolated and their antimicrobial resistance patterns were recorded. Males corresponded to 55.4 percent of our sample, and most of our patients (42.7 percent) were between one and four years of age. Shigella was the commonest pathogen, being found in 141 (54.3 percent) cultures, while Salmonella was found in 100 (38.4 percent) cultures and Enteropathogenic E. coli in 19 (7.3 percent). Salmonella was the main causal agent of diarrhea in children younger than five years old, whereas Shigella was the most frequent pathogen isolated from the stools of children between five and 15 years old. The peaks of incidence correspond to the periods of school vacations. Shigella specimens presented a very high resistance rate to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (90.1 percent) and to ampicillin (22.0 percent), while Salmonella presented very low resistance rates to all drugs tested. These data are useful for practitioners and they reinforce the need for continuous microbiological surveillance.

Tolerância hereditária à frutose: causa de vômitos recorrentes na infância / Hereditary fructose intolerance: cause of recurrent vomiting in childhood

A intolerância hereditária à frutose é uma doença metabólica infrequente que apresenta sintomas gastrointestinais acompanhados de hipoglicemia, devendo ser considerada na investigação de vomitos recorrentes de etiologia desconhecida em crianças e adultos jovens. Entretanto, por ser pouco comum, essa possibilidade é frequentemente esquecida na elaboração do diagnostico diferencial, o que pode fazer casos passarem despercebidos, pretelando o tratamento o aumentando o custo do diagnóstico. Com o objetivo de resaltar a importância de considerar a intolerância à frutose na elaboração do diagnóstico diferencial, relata-se um caso dessa doença diagnosticado em uma menina de nove anos de idade que aprentava vômitos recorrentes desde o período do desmame. Após o diagnóstico de intolerância hereditária à frutose, surgiram queixas ósseas que possivelmente estão ligadas a essa doença. A fisiopatologia e as medidas diagnósticas e terapêuticas são discutidas