The Effects of Health Services Utilization on the Recovery from Dysentery

A community-based programme for the treatment of dysentery in children under five years of age was implemented in Matlab, Bangladesh. Dysentery cases, identified at home, were referred to a sub-center for standard treatment with nalidixic acid. To assess the response to this intervention, a one year survey was carried out in 1990. The incidence of dysentery in this age group was 7 per cent. Isolation of Shigella species was 27 per cent (47/177) and was strongly associated with the frequency of stools (chi2 for trend, P = 0.001). S. flexneri accounted for 81 per cent of the isolates. Only 45 per cent of the cases were actually taken to the sub-center, 27 per cent went to traditional healers and 23…