Shkëlqime Poga Tobli 1, Mite Okshtuni2, Blerina Kodra1
1Institute of Public Health, Tirana, Albania;
2Local health care unit, Durrës, Albania.
Aim: To evaluate the frequency of gastroenteritis in Durrës district during the last five years.
Introduction: Gastroenteritis is most commonly caused by viruses, sometimes bacteria and less often parasites. The transmission of disease caused by microbes, spreads through the oral-fecal route, ingesting water or food contaminated with feces, person-to-person contact or direct exposure to contaminated feces. Children are particularly vulnerable to gastroenteritis.
Methods: Gastroenteritis cases in Durrës have been studied for a period of 5 years from 2015 to 2019 according to age groups, place of residence, treatment of cases in hospital as well as microbiological assessment of drinking water quality. The data are analyzed by statistical program Excel.
Results: In total 68571 cases were reported during years 2015-2019. The data show that the highest number of gastroenteritis cases in Durrës district is found in 2018 with 15 804 cases, followed by 2017 with 15411 cases. The highest proportion of cases is occupied by women 53.78% females during the study of the disease about 90.5% cases of illness are in the city and only 9.2% of cases in the village. About 5.3% of the total cases were hospitalized. According to age-group the highest number of cases is 1-4 years (21.6%), followed by the age group 5-9 years (10.28%), 10-14 years (10.26%), on children under 1 year of age (8.49 %) and over 66 years old are (5.31%) of the total cases.
Conclusion: For the prevention of gastroenteritis it is important: To ensure adequate hygienic-sanitary conditions in the family and collective spaces. Continuous monitoring and control of food safety and monitoring water supply.
Keyword: children, disease food, safety.