Table 1. Inclusion/Exclusion criteria for cases and controls.

Cases

Inclusion criteria

Children less than 5 years

Presence of acute, moderate-to-severe diarrhea and/or vomiting within the past 10 days. Acute gastroenteritis was defined as 3 or more episodes of loose or liquid stools within 24 hours and or more than one episode of vomiting in 24h.

Children who are not part of this study as a case (not previously recorded to have diarrhea within the last 60 days)

AGE is moderate to severe, and must meet at least one of the following criteria.

Sunken eyes, confirmed by parent/caretaker

Loss of skin turgor by skin pinch (≤ 2s slow, or > 2 very slow)

Intravenous rehydration prescribed or administered

Dysentery (1 or more bloody stools)

Evaluated in the Emergency Department or admitted to the hospital for diarrhea

Children will still be eligible for enrollment even if they have received antibiotics within the last 14 days.

Exclusion criteria

Children older than 60 months of age

Children who reside outside of the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga, Colombia

Presence of chronic diarrhea (> 10 days) or other co-morbid conditions such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.

Controls

Inclusion criteria:

Children less than 5 years

Child who resides within the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga, Colombia

Absence of diarrhea or vomiting within the past 10 days.

Matched to cases for age. Age matching is ±2 months for 0–11 months, ±4 months for 12–59 months (can not exceed the stratum boundaries of the case).

Exclusion criteria:

Children older than 60 months of age

Child who does not reside within the Metropolitan area of Bucaramanga, Colombia

Presence of acute diarrhea, as defined by the WHO, in the previous 7 days (regardless of whether they develop diarrhea after enrollment)

Presence of chronic diarrhea (> 10 days) or other co-morbid conditions such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.