Point-of-care diagnosis and risk factors of infantile, rotavirus-associated diarrhoea in Calabar, Nigeria.

Background: Rotaviruses are the primary cause of acute gastroenteritis in young children worldwide and a significant proportion of these infections occur in Africa.

Objectives: In the present study, we determined the prevalence and risk factors of rotavirus infection among children younger than age 5 years with or without diarrhoea in Calabar, Nigeria, using a rapid point-of-care test.

Methods: Two hundred infants younger than age 5 years presenting with acute gastroenteritis and a control group of 200 infants without diarrhoea were tested for rotavirus.

Bacterial isolates from blood cultures of children with suspected septicaemia in Calabar, Nigeria.

Background: Septicaemia is a common cause of morbidity and mortality among children in the developing world. This pattern has changed little in the past decade. Physical signs and symptoms, though useful in identifying possible cases have limited specificity.