Infecciones respiratorias agudas en ninos menores de dos anos de la zona rural de Guatemala

Abstract

An epidemiologic study was carried out from October 1977 to September 1978 on children under two years of age living on several coffee plantations in southern Guatemala who presented various clinical manifestations of acute respiratory infection. The purpose of the sutdy was to examine the relationship between the illness and the socioeconomic characteristics and nutritional status of the same population. At the same time, an evaluation was made of the degree to which the health posts located on the plantations were used in providing care for the infections. On the basis of the consultations done at these posts and from bi-weekly home visits by a team of trained health promoters, information was collected during each quarter on the frequency and duration of nasal secretion, cough, stertor, as well as on the children's physical growth and their socioeconomic characteristics. The clinical manifestations were correlated with several risk factors reflecting certain socioeconomic characteristics, such as the availability of drinking water in the home, the degree of literacy of the head of family, and type of housing. There were notable negative values in the z score for all anthropometric indicators, signifying retarded physical growth in the children studied. This retardation was greater in those who had one or more episodes of clinically acute respiratory infection than those who did not have any