Frequency and characteristics of selected enteropathogens in fecal and rectal specimens from childhood diarrhea in Trinidad, 1998-2000

To determine the prevalence and characteristics of selected enteric pathogens in diarrheic children in six counties of the island of Trinidad. This cross-sectional study was conducted from April 1998 through March 2000. Fecal or rectal swab specimens from children (0.05 with the chi-square test). For the 150 samples from the six counties that had been submitted directly to the Trinidad Public Health Laboratory, 14 of them (9.3%) were positive for Shigella, a figure statistically significantly lower than that found with the samples sampled directly from the health centers (P