The mean age of patients with positive culture was 43 ± 17.3 years while that of negative culture patients was 53 ± 17 years. On univariate logistic regression, it was identified that younger patients were more likely to have positive stool cultures. Likewise, it was also noticed that positive stool culture cases were more likely to present with vomiting, greater number of unformed stools per day, shorter mean duration of diarrhoea, higher creatinine level, lower bicarbonate level and presence of faecal leukocytes. However, they were less likely to have frank blood or Red Blood Cells (RBCs) present in their stool samples. Sixteen patients had acute renal failure due to severe dehydration, out of which nine were culture positive. No marked difference was noted in the serum electrolytes of both groups. Gender was found to have no association with the outcome of stool culture results. Average duration of hospitalization (2.8 vs 2.4 ± 1.4 days) was almost similar for both positive and negative stool culture groups. Almost half of the patients (45%) having positive stool cultures had no abdominal pain on initial presentation. Therapeutic management changed only in three (3%) patients after the stool culture results were available. It remained unchanged in rest of the 94 cases (97%). For detailed comparison of demographic and clinical features of culture positive and culture negative patients, refer to Table-2. Coker AO, Isokpehi RD, Thomas BN, Amisu KO, Obi CL. Human campylobacteriosis in developing countries. Emerg Infect Dis. 2002;8(3):237–44 Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11927019. [cited 2018 Sep 23].

Siddiqui FM, Akram M, Noureen N, Noreen Z, Bokhari H. Antibiotic susceptibility profiling and virulence potential of Campylobacter jejuni isolates from different sources in Pakistan. Asian Pac J Trop Med. 2015;8(3):197–202 Available from: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S199576451460314X. [cited 2018 Sep 23]. Jakab, F.; Péterfai, J.; Meleg, E.; Bányai, K.; Mitchell, D.K.; Szűcs, G. Comparison of clinical characteristics between astrovirus and rotavirus infections diagnosed in 1997 to 2002 in Hungary. Acta Paediatr. 2005, 94, 667–671. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] Symptoms are usually mild in most people and last for 3 to 4 days but they may last longer. Symptoms may be more severe in the very young, the elderly, and those with other health problems. Those whose immune systems are not working as well as normal are particularly likely to be more unwell. For example, people with untreated HIV infection, those on chemotherapy, those on long-term steroid treatment or those who are taking drugs which suppress their immune system, for example after a transplant or to treat an autoimmune condition Ahmed HN, Zaidi AKM. An outbreak of cholera in Karachi following Monsoon rains 2003. Infect Dis J 2003; 12: 70-2.

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Mason J, Iturriza-Gomara M, O’Brien SJ, Ngwira BM, Dove W, Maiden MCJ, et al. Campylobacter Infection in Children in Malawi Is Common and Is Frequently Associated with Enteric Virus Co-Infections. Hold GL, editor. PLoS One. 2013;8(3):e59663 Available from: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059663. [cited 2018 Aug 20]. The World Health Organization (WHO) has ranked Pakistan 23 in terms of childhood mortality caused by diarrheal illness, with almost 6.4 million cases of pediatric diarrhea annually. Either suspected by history from patient, or confirmed by inspection of stool, and not attributable to local anorectal bleeding. Chan SS, Ng KC, Lam PK, Lyon DJ, Cheung WL, Rainer TH. Predictors of positive stool culture in patients with acute infectious diarrhoea. J Emerg Med 2002; 23: 125-30. The infection can spread to other parts of your body such as your bones, joints, or the meninges that surround your brain and spinal cord. This is rare. If it does occur, it is more likely if diarrhoea is caused by salmonella infection. Irritable bowel syndrome

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Worldwide, almost 88% of deaths associated with diarrhea were linked to unsafe water amongst other causes.

Mulholland, E.K. Global control of rotavirus disease. In Hot Topics in Infection and Immunity in Children; Springer: Boston, MA, USA, 2004; pp. 161–168. [ Google Scholar]Tran, A.; Talmud, D.; Lejeune, B.; Jovenin, N.; Renois, F.; Payan, C.; Leveque, N.; Andreoletti, L. Prevalence of rotavirus, adenovirus, norovirus, and astrovirus infections and coinfections among hospitalized children in northern France. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2010, 48, 1943–1946. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] [ PubMed][ Green Version] Drinking bottled water and fizzy drinks that are in sealed bottles or cans, tea, coffee and alcohol is thought to be safe. However, avoid ice cubes and non-bottled water in alcoholic drinks. Food should be cooked through thoroughly and be piping hot when served. Cunliffe NA, Ngwira BM, Dove W, Thindwa BDM, Turner AM, Broadhead RL, et al. Epidemiology of Rotavirus infection in Children in Blantyre, Malawi, 1997–2007. J Infect Dis. 2010;202(S1):S168–74. Amongst children, diarrhea is a common occurrence, and it is considered normal for young infants to have 3−10 loose stools daily. Saudy N, Elshabrawy WO, Megahed A, Foad MF, Mohamed AF. Genotyping and Clinicoepidemiological Characterization of Rotavirus Acute Gastroenteritis in Egyptian Children. Polish J Microbiol. 2016;65(4):433–42 Available from: https://pjm-microbiology.publisherspanel.com/gicid/01.3001.0010.8341. [cited 2019 May 12].