Table 2.
Clinical characteristics of study participants
| Characteristic | n (%)* |
|---|---|
| Self-rated baseline health | |
| Excellent | 76 (60.3) |
| Very good | 27 (21.4) |
| Good | 14 (11.1) |
| Fair | 7 (5.6) |
| Poor | 2 (1.6) |
| Current medical comorbidity† | 9 (7.2) |
| History of intra-abdominal surgery‡ | 6 (4.8) |
| Antibiotic use before diarrheal illness | 1 (0.8) |
| Known contact with another person with diarrheal illness | 4 (3.2) |
| Acid-suppressive or immunosuppressive medication use | 0 (0) |
| Location of treatment | |
| Clinic | 97 (77.0) |
| Emergency department | 29 (23.0) |
| Median duration of symptoms (IQR) in days | 2 (2–3) |
| Symptoms | |
| Diarrhea | 126 (100) |
| Abdominal cramps | 103 (81.8) |
| Fatigue | 97 (77.0) |
| Fever | 53 (42.1) |
| Body aches | 52 (41.3) |
| Headache | 50 (39.7) |
| Chills | 43 (34.1) |
| Vomiting | 33 (26.2) |
| Nausea | 31 (24.6) |
| Bloody diarrhea | 7 (5.6) |
| ≥ 6 stools per day | 69 (54.8) |
| Temperature ≥ 38.5°C (N = 107) | 9 (8.4) |
| Heart rate ≥ 90 beats per minute (N = 107) | 28 (26.2) |
| Systolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg (N = 121) | 1 (0.8) |
IQR = interquartile range.
*
N = 126 unless otherwise indicated.
†
Medical comorbidity includes diabetes (N = 7), hypertension (N = 2), and hyperlipidemia (N = 1).
‡
All had undergone appendectomy > 2 years before presentation.