The aim of the study was to evaluate the incidence of aetiological factors of acute diarrhoea in the group of children treated in the Department of Paediatrics and Gastroenterology between the years 1992-1996. The study included 188 children aged 5 days - 36 months. In the analysed period, rotaviral diarrhoea was diagnosed in 42.5% children; in the group of bacterial infections, Salmonella strains were the most frequent (14.37%). Aetiological factor was not established in the case of 35.65% of children. The group of rotaviral diarrhoea included a large percentage of hospital infections which amounted to 28.8%-45.4%. The present study demonstrated an increasing trend for rotaviral diarrhoea (p=0.004) as well as a decreasing tendency for diarrhoea of unknown aetiology (p=0.02), which necessitates the introduction of preventive vaccinations against rotaviral infections.

Keywords: hospital infections, aetiology, acute diarrhoea