Acute Diarrhea

Acute diarrhea is a common problem found throughout the world. Complaints of diarrhea in the United States ranks third from the list of complaints to the doctor, while in some hospitals in Indonesia or other countries in Asia, the data showed acute diarrhea due to infection are ranked first through fourth adult patients who come to the hospital for treatment .

In developed countries an estimated incidence of approximately 0.5 to 2 episodes / person / year, while in developing countries is more than that. In the USA with a population of around 200 million estimated 99 million episodes of acute diarrhea in adults occur each year. WHO estimates there are about 4 billion cases of acute diarrhea each year with a mortality of 3-4 million per year.

Some epidemiological factors deemed important to approach patients with acute diarrhea caused by infection. Contaminated food or drink, travel, antibiotic use, HIV-positive or AIDS, is an important clue in identifying patients at high risk for infectious diarrhea.