Majority of the studies of hospital-acquired diarrhoea conducted in Western countries have focused on the detection of Clostridium difficile in stool samples. Limited Asian and Indian literature is available on hospital-acquired diarrhoea. This study was aimed to describe the aetiological profile for hospital-acquired diarrhoea in childrenaged below five years.
The findings of this study suggest that the aetiological profile of hospital- acquired diarrhoea appears to be similar to that of community-acquired diarrhoea, with DEC and Cryptosporidium being the most common causes. The efforts for the prevention and management of hospital-acquired diarrhoea should, thus, be directed towards these organisms.