Journal of Gastrointestinal & Digestive System
Open Access

Research Article

Shigellosis among Breastfed Children: A Facility Based Observational Study in Rural Bangladesh

Shahnawaz Ahmed^1*, Farzana Ferdous¹, Jui Das¹, Fahmida Dil Farzana¹, Mohammod Jobayer Chisti¹, Jonathan R Latham³, Sumon Kumar Das², Abdullah Al Mamun² and Abu Syed GolamFaruque¹

¹International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh

²School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

³London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

*Corresponding Author:

Shahnawaz Ahmed
Centre for Nutrition and Food Security (CNFS)
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research
Bangladesh (icddr,b), 68 Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani
Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Tel: +880-2-9827104
Fax: +880-2-9827104
E-mail: gfaruque@icddrb.org

Received date: August 12, 2015 Accepted date: August 25, 2015 Published date: August 31, 2015

Citation: Ahmed S, Ferdous F, Das J, Farzana FD, Chisti MJ, et al. (2015) Shigellosis among Breastfed Children: A Facility Based Observational Study in Rural Bangladesh. J Gastrointest Dig Syst 5:327. doi:10.4172/2161-069X.1000327

Copyright: © 2015 Ahmed S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License; which permits unrestricted use; distribution; and reproduction in any medium; provided the original author and source are credited.

Objective: Although breastfed children are less likely to suffer from infectious diarrhea, children under 2 years of age are often infected with Shigella. The study aimed to understand socio-demographic, clinical, and host characteristics of breastfed children under 2 years of age with shigellosis and compare these factors with breastfed children who presented with non-Shigella associated diarrhea in rural Mirzapur, Bangladesh. Methods: From January 2010 to December 2012, a total of 3,409 children under 5 years with diarrhea were admitted to a tertiary level hospital in rural Bangladesh with diarrhea. A total of 2,278 (67%) of these children were aged 0-23 months and had reported history of breastfeeding and were enrolled in the study. Nine percent (n=205, 9%) of the enrolled children were infected with Shigella and were thus considered to be cases and the remaining children (n=2,073, 91%) were not infected with Shigella and formed the comparison group. Results: Breastfed children with shigellosis were more likely to be underweight (<–2 weight-for-age z-score) [(31% vs. 18%; p<0.001)], stunted (<–2 height-for-age z-score) [(22% vs. 13%; p<0.001)] and wasted (<–2 weightfor- height z-score) [(22% vs. 13%; p<0.001)] compared to breastfed children without shigellosis. Rotavirus (14% vs. 29%, <0.001) was detected less commonly as a co-pathogen amongst children with shigellosis relative to their counterparts. In multivariate analysis, significant associations with shigellosis were observed with child age (12-23 months) [OR: 3.02 (95% CI-2.17-4.18)], blood in stool [OR: 6.44 (4.68-8.88)], fever [OR: 1.95 (1.41-2.68)], convulsion [OR: 2.80 (1.04-7.54)], stunting [OR: 1.53 (1.03-2.28)], and use of zinc at home [OR: 0.67 (0.46-0.98)] after controlling for other covariates. Conclusion: Breastfed children with shigellosis were more likely to be malnourished than those who were also breastfed but not infected with Shigella among rural Bangladeshi children under 2 years of age.

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