Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-6bb9c88b65-znhjv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-23T22:18:56.008Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 11 - Diarrhoea

from Section 2 - Mother and Child Health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2025

By
Bridget Freyne ,
Watipaso Wanda ,
Jenala Njirammadzi ,
Martin W. Weber  and
Melita Gordon
Edited by
David Mabey ,
Martin W. Weber ,
Moffat Nyirenda ,
Dorothy Yeboah-Manu ,
Jackson Orem ,
Laura Benjamin ,
Michael Marks  and
Nicholas A. Feasey
David Mabey
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Martin W. Weber
Affiliation:
World Health Organization
Moffat Nyirenda
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Dorothy Yeboah-Manu
Affiliation:
Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana
Jackson Orem
Affiliation:
Uganda Cancer Institute, Kampala
Laura Benjamin
Affiliation:
University College London
Michael Marks
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Nicholas A. Feasey
Affiliation:
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Get access

Summary

Diarrhoea is the passage of loose or watery stools at least three times in 24 hours (WHO 2005b). In acute diarrhoea the illness lasts less than 14 days. Dysentery is diarrhoea with visible blood in the stool. Persistent diarrhoea is diarrhoea that begins acutely and lasts for >14 days duration. These conditions differ with regard to pathogenesis, treatment and risk of death.

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
Principles of Medicine in Africa , pp. 137 - 148
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Anon. (1996). Evaluation of an algorithm for the treatment of persistent diarrhoea: a multicentre study. International Working Group on Persistent Diarrhoea. Bull World Hlth Org 74: 479–489.Google Scholar
Black, RE. (1993). Persistent diarrhea in children of developing countries. Pediatr Infect Dis J 12: 751–761.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, KH, Gastanaduy, AS, Saavedra, JM et al. (1988). Effect of continued oral feeding on clinical and nutritional outcomes of acute diarrhea in children. J Pediatr 112: 191–200.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heymann, DL, Mbvundula, M, Macheso, A et al. (1990). Oral rehydration therapy in Malawi: impact on the severity of disease and on hospital admissions, treatment practices, and recurrent costs. Bull World Hlth Org 68: 193–197.Google ScholarPubMed
Huttly, SR, Morris, SS, Pisani, V. (1997). Prevention of diarrhoea in young children in developing countries. Bull World Hlth Org 75: 163–74.Google Scholar
Kosek, M, Bern, C, Guerrant, RL. (2003). The global burden of diarrhoeal disease, as estimated from studies published between 1992 and 2000. Bull World Hlth Org 81: 197–204.Google ScholarPubMed
Kotloff, K, Nataro, JP, Blackwelder, WC et al. (2013) Burden and aetiology of diarrheal disease in young children in developing countries (the Global Enteric Multicenter Study (GEMS): a prospective, case control study. Lancet 382: 209–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazzerini, M, Ronfani, L. (2008). Oral zinc for treating diarrhoea in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev; 3: CD005436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munos, MK, Walker, CL, Black, RE. (2010). The effect of oral rehydration solution and recommended home fluids on diarrhoea mortality. Int J Epidemiol; 39: i75–i87.10.1093/ije/dyq025CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
JM, Mwenda, Burke, RM, Shaba, K et al. (2017). Implementation of rotavirus surveillance and vaccine introduction in the WHO African Region 2007–2016. MMWR 66 (43): 1192–1196.Google Scholar
Pavlinac, PB, Tickell, KD, Walson, JD. (2015). Management of diarrhea in HIV affected infants and children. Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther 13(1): 5–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pavlinac, PB, John-Steward, GC, Naulikha, JM et al. (2014). High risk enteric pathogens associated with HIV infection and HIV exposure in Kenyan children with acute diarrhoea. AIDS 28(15): 2287–2296.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
WHO (1999). Management of Severe Malnutrition: A Manual for Physicians and Other Senior Health Workers. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
WHO (2004). Antibiotics in the management of shigellosis. Wkly Epidemiol Rec 79: 355–6.Google Scholar
WHO (2005a). Shigellosis: disease burden, epidemiology and case management. Wkly Epidemiol Rec 80: 94–9.Google Scholar
WHO (2005b). The Treatment of Diarrhoea: A Manual for Physicians and Other Senior Health Workers. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
WHO (2007). Rotavirus vaccines. Wkly Epidemiol Rec 82: 285–95.Google Scholar
WHO (2010). WHO recommendations on the management of diarrhoea and pneumonia in HIV-affected infants and children. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
WHO (2013). Pocket Book of Hospital Care for Children. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
WHO (2018). Largest cholera vaccine drive in history to target spike in outbreaks. www.who.int/groups/icg/cholera.Google Scholar
WHO (2021). The Global Health Observatory. Child mortality and causes of death. www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/topics/topic-details/GHO/child-mortality-and-causes-of-death.Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge-org.demo.remotlog.com is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×