In high antimicrobial usage and resistance settings, researchers found a lack of clinical benefit for treating pediatric diarrhea with antimicrobials, according to a study in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Researchers conducted a study of 3,166 pediatric patients hospitalized with diarrhea containing blood and/or mucus in Vietnam. They measured clinical parameters, including disease outcome and treatment.
The study shows one-third of the patients had bloody diarrhea, and 25 percent were culture positive for Shigella, nontyphoidal Salmonella or Campylobacter. More than 85 percent of patients were treated with antimicrobials, with fluoroquinolones being most commonly used antimicrobial. Additionally, antimicrobial resistance was highly prevalent among the isolated bacteria.
Researchers found antimicrobial treatment and multidrug resistance status of the infecting pathogens did not have a significant effect on outcome.
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