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Prevalence of Candida albicans Associated Gastroenteritis in Nigerian Children
Godwin Christopher , Wachukwu CK
Nigeria

A total of two hundred and seven stool samples were collected from patients between the age of <1 month to 2½ years suffering from gastroenteritis (diarrhoea) from three health centers in Port Harcourt.Thirty non-diarrhoeic age-matched children were included as controls. The stool specimens were obtained and subjected to microscopic cultural examination and identification. Candida albicans (87.9%) was the predominant organism followed by Candida tropicalis (10.6%) and Candida glabrata (1.5%). Out of 198 of the samples that showed Candida, 172 of them were Candida albicans. The prevalence of Candida albicans was higher among children aged <1 month to 1½ years 142(84.5%). Children > 1½ years had a prevalence rate of 27(15.5 %).The result revealed a significant relationship (p<0.05) between fungi and incidence of gastroenteritis in children. There was no significant relationship (p>0.05) between the age group studied and the incidence of fungal gastroenteritis in children.The sex of the children also showed no significant relationship (p>0.05)with the incidence of fungal gastroenteritis. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the rate of infection between the subjects who took antibiotics and those who did not take antibiotic before infection (p>0.05). Incidence of Candida was significantly higher among diarrhoeic subjects compared to non-diarrhoeic controls 198 (95.5%) and12 (40%) respectively. This study confirms that Candida albicans is a significant cause of diarrhoea in Nigerian children and brings to focus the need to routinely test children presenting with diarrhoea particularly in developing countries for Candida albicans