Symptoms associated with diarrhoeal illness at San Lazaro Hospital, Manila in 1983 and 1984

The clinical features associated with various agents of diarrhoeal disease were studied using 2,836 patients admitted to San Lazaro Hospital, Manila. Three general patient groups were considered including single pathogen isolations, "multiple pathogen" isolations, and "no pathogen" isolations. In general, symptoms of diarrhoeal illness were found to be non-specific. However, Shigella flexneri. Vibrio parahemolyticus, and rotavirus were significantly associated with a number of prominent symptoms and could sometimes be predictably diagnosed on clinical grounds, especially when age of the patient was considered. Clinical diagnosis cannot be considered an adequate substitute for laboratory methods; other enteric pathogens can sometimes present with the same symptoms. When appropriate laboratory testing is unavailable, as is often the case in developing countries, symptomatologic diagnosis may be of limited value for the organisms mentioned.