[Epidemiologic aspects of acute respiratory infections in children less than 6 months of age through a retrospective study in Algiers--Algeria].

Personal medical files of 874 children from 0 to 4 years old monitored in a Maternal and Child Health Center were reviewed. Acute respiratory infections (ARI) represent about 37% of the total of these outpatients. Annual frequent occurrence of ARI has been estimated at 2.13 per child/per annum among babies less than 1 year old, and diminishes regularly with age to reach 0.74 per child/per annum in the age group 3-4 years. ARI were a motive for medical advice more frequent among boys than girls (p less than 0.01). Distribution of ARI according to their level shows that ARI above glottis represent 46% of total ARI, this percentage increasing with age. Approximately 63% of these ARI were treated by antibiotics.