Aetiology of diarrhoeal disease and evaluation of viral–bacterial coinfection in children under 5 years old in China: a matched case–control study

Globally, diarrhoeal diseases are the second leading cause of death among children under 5 years old. Few case–control studies on the aetiology of diarrhoea have been conducted in China. A case–control study on 922 children under 5 years old who presented with diarrhoea and individually matched controls was conducted in China between May 2011 and January 2013. Quantitative PCR was used to analyze stool samples for 10 diarrhoeal pathogens. Potential enteric pathogens were detected in 377 (81.8%) of 461 children with diarrhoea and 215 controls (46.6%, p