[Sentinel surveillance of diarrhea in Ksar-Hellal (Tunisia)].

BACKGROUND

In order to simplify the national data collection related to diarrhea, a sentinel surveillance system was implemented in the Ksar-Hellal district (Tunisia).

POPULATION AND

METHODS

This system was based on 461 cases of diarrhea collected from health centers and hospitals between June 1994 and December 1995.

RESULTS

The collected information confirmed the previous data provided by the national system: frequency of diarrhea in health centers (4.14%), occurrence of the disease especially in the summer period, rate of hospitalization (10%) and low proportion of severe dehydration. The system also gave some new information related to the proportion of persistent diarrhea (7.1%), the low frequency of malnutrition (11%) and the etiology.

CONCLUSION

The sentinel surveillance system validates information previously provided by the National Surveillance System. It also gave new information not obtained by the classical surveillance system.