Antimicrobial use in children under five years with diarrhea in a central region province, Thailand

This cross-sectional study aimed to estimate the prevalence of appropriate antimicrobial prescribing for treating childhood diarrhea within the public hospital system in a central region province, Thailand. Reported are findings of a prospective clinical audit of 424 cases treated by 38 physicians. Appropriate use of antimicrobials was defined as prescribing antimicrobials for managing an invasive bacterial-type, bloody diarrhea or not prescribing antimicrobials for managing a watery-type or non-bloody diarrhea. Among 424 cases with diarrhea, 12.5% were invasive bacterial-type. Of the 66 diarrheal episodes in which stool samples were cultured, 7 stool specimens were positive, two with Shigella sonnei, two with Vibrio cholerae Ogawa and three with E. coli. Based on the presence of mucus and blood in stools, 27.4% of 424 cases received appropriate antimicrobial drugs. Cotrimoxazole was the most commonly prescribed drug (51%), followed by colistin sulfate (15.3%), norfloxacin (11%), and nalidixic acid (0.5%). The average number of antimicrobials per case of inpatients was higher than outpatients (1.15 vs 0.84, p < 0.001). There was a trend toward prescribing norfloxacin in childhood diarrhea. The Ministry of Public Health should continue providing effective interventions aimed at improving physicians' knowledge of diarrhea treatment. Similar efforts should be directed toward improving caretakers' knowledge about home care for childhood diarrhea and encouraging widespread correct use of oral rehydration therapy (ORT) in the community. Hopefully, such activities will help reduce the inappropriate use of antimicrobial agents in treating diarrheal disease.