Objective-To evaluate whether sensitivity and specificity of tachypnoea for the diagnosis of pneumonia change with age, nutritional status, or duration of disease. Methods-Diagnostic testing of 110 children with acute respiratory infection, 51 of whom presented with tachypnoea. The gold standard was a chest roentgenogram. Thirty five children had a radiological image of pneumonia; 75 were diagnosed as not having pneumonia. Sensitivity, specificity, and percentage of correct classification of tachypnoea, by itself or in combination with other clinical signs for all children, by age groups, nutritional status, and disease duration were calculated. Results-Tachypnoea as the sole clinical sign showed the highest sensitivity (74%) and a specificity of 67%; 69% of cases were classified correctly. Sensitivity was reduced when other clinical signs were combined with tachypnoea, and there was no significant increase in correct classification, although specificity increased to 84%. In children with a disease duration of less than three days, tachypnoea had a lower sensitivity and specificity (55% and 64%, respectively), and a lower percentage of correct classification (62%). In children with low weight for age (< 1 Z-score), tachypnoea had a sensitivity of 83%, a specificity of 48%, and 60% correct classification. Sensitivity and specificity did not vary with age groups. Conclusions-Tachypnoea used as the only clinical sign is useful for identifying pneumonia in children, with no significant variations for age. In children with low weight for age, tachypnoea had higher sensitivity, but lower specificity. However, during the first three days of disease, the sensitivity, specificity, and percentage of correct classification were significantly lower. (Arch Dis Child 2000;82:41-45)

The prevalence and type diversity of human astroviruses (HAstV) in children with symptomatic and asymptomatic infections were determined in five localities of Mexico. HAstV were detected in 4.6 (24 of 522) and 2.6% (11 of 428) of children with and without diarrhea, respectively. Genotyping of the detected strains showed that at least seven (types 1 to 4 and 6 to 8) of the eight known HAstV types circulated in Mexico between October 1994 and March 1995. HAstV types 1 and 3 were the most prevalent in children with diarrhea, although they were not found in all localities studied. HAstV type 8 was found in Mexico City, Monterrey, and Mérida; in the last it was as prevalent (40%) as type 1 viruses, indicating that this astrovirus type is more common than previously recognized. A correlation between the HAstV infecting type and the presence or absence of diarrheic symptoms was not observed. Enteric adenoviruses were also studied, and they were found to be present in 2.3 (12 of 522) and 1.4% (6 of 428) of symptomatic and asymptomatic children, respectively.

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Summaryobjective To investigate the contribution of poor case management and care-seeking behaviour to childhood deaths from acute respiratory infections (ARI) and diarrhoeal diseases in rural Mexico.methods Eighty-nine deaths from ARI and diarrhoea in under-fives from Hidalgo over a 7-month period were identified from registered death certificates. We interviewed the carers of 75 of these children, eliciting what happened before death, including signs and symptoms, contact with health services, details on treatments and details of doctors. These death narratives were used to assess the contributions of care seeking and case management to the childhood deaths. We conducted an independent investigation of the clinical competence of doctors mentioned in the death narratives using standard case scenarios and compared this with results obtained from neighbourhood control doctors.results Late care seeking and ⁄ or poor case management contributed to 68% of deaths. The estimated contribution of care seeking alone was 32%, of case management alone 17% and of both care seeking and case management 18% of deaths. Doctors implicated as having contributed to a child's death had significantly lower clinical competence scores than those who were not. Private doctors accounted for 1.4 times more consultations prior to death than public doctors, but were implicated in 1.8 times the number of deaths.conclusion Efforts to reduce child mortality need to improve both care seeking for childhood illnesses and quality of case management. It is essential that doctors in the private sector be included, as in Mexico and many other countries they provide a large proportion of care, often with adverse outcomes.

In Tlaxcala, Mexico, 80% of the children who died from diarrhoea or acute respiratory infections (ARI) in 1992-1993 received medical care; in more than 70% of cases it was provided by a private general practitioner (GP). The present study evaluated the quality of case management by private and public GPs to children under five years of age with diarrhoea and ARI. During the clinical observation, the treatment and counselling given to the mother were assessed with the WHO guidelines as reference standard. A total of 41 private and 40 public GPs were evaluated for the management of diarrhoea, and 59 private and 40 public GPs for the management of ARI. For diarrhoea, half of the private GPs gave inadequate rehydration therapy, 63% gave incorrect advice on diet, 66% and 49% made an incorrect correct decision in the prescription of antimicrobial and symptomatic drugs, respectively. Public GPs generally performed better in diarrhoea management: 7% gave inadequate rehydration therapy, 13% gave wrong advice on diet, 3% made a wrong decision in the prescription of symptomatic drugs and 28% gave a wrong decision in antimicrobial prescription. In the management of ARI, 66% and 58% of private GPs made a wrong decision in the prescription of antimicrobial and symptomatic drugs, respectively, compared to 30% and 20% of public GPs, respectively. Counselling to the mother given by both private and public GPs was considered inadequate in most cases of diarrhoea and ARI. These results clearly show that private doctors, as important providers of medical care, need to be included in the strategies to improve the quality of care of children with diarrhoea and ARI. Future research needs to address the determinants of the clinical practice of private doctors in countries like Mexico.