Epidemiology, aetiology and seasonality of infectious diarrhoea in adult outpatients through active surveillance in Shanghai, China, 2012–2016: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, aetiology and seasonality of sporadic infectious diarrhoea in adults in Shanghai. SETTING: This study was based on a city-wide, active continuous hospital-based diarrhoea surveillance network established by Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention. There were 22 sentinel hospitals in all 16 districts (9 primary-level hospitals, 6 secondary-level hospitals and 7 tertiary-level hospitals) which were selected using probability proportionate to size sampling method. PARTICIPANTS: From 1 May 2012 to 31 May 2016, 90 713 patients were included in this study. Among 8797 patients whose stool samples were collected and detected, 4392 patients were male. RESULTS: The positive rate was 47.96%. Bacterial and viral infections accounted for 27.19% and 69.07% separately. Norovirus was the most common pathogen (43.10%), followed by rotavirus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) and Salmonella spp. Patients between 30–44 and 45–59 years were more likely to have infectious diarrhoea and viral diarrhoea. Those aged 30–44 years were the most likely to get infected with V. parahaemolyticus (adjusted OR, aOR vs 60+ years: 2.04, 95% CI 1.47 to 2.78) and norovirus (aOR vs 60+ years: 1.32, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.56). Bacterial (except V. parahaemolyticus) diarrhoea was characterised by fever, abdominal pain and loose stool; while viral diarrhoea was characterised by nausea, vomiting and watery stool. A seasonal distribution of infectious diarrhoea was observed with larger peaks in winter and smaller peaks in summer. Winter peaks were mainly due to norovirus and rotavirus, and summer peaks were due to bacterial infections. An emerging spring peak of norovirus around March was observed in the past 3 years. CONCLUSION: Viral infections were predominant, and norovirus played a leading role. A seasonal distribution was observed and an emerging spring peak of norovirus was noted. Our findings highlight the necessity for conducting an active, comprehensive surveillance in adults, to monitor changing dynamics in the epidemiology and aetiology of infectious diarrhoea.