Evaluating the Status of Patients Suffering from Diarrhea During the Outbreak Occurred in Shahrekord in 2015

Abstract Introduction: The term diarrheal diseases, a conventional expression, is neither regarded as an epidemiological subject nor a class of diseases, since diarrhea is a symptom of many diseases defined as the passage of three or more loose or liquid stools per day. Materials &Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in which the records of all patients with symptoms of diarrhea encountering health centers were evaluated during April and May 2015. Results: Females, with a frequency of 56.7%, revealed a larger proportion of clinical symptoms associated with this outbreak. Most of the clinical symptoms were related to watery diarrhea (74.5%), fever (62.4%), nausea (61.9%), vomiting (58.2%), and dysentery (24.2%). After fruits (51.6%) as the most common food which was eaten by people with clinical symptoms related to diarrhea outbreak, vegetables (42.9%), ice creams (4 %), food outside the home (3.5%), fast food consumption (2.4%) were eaten mostly. Conclusions: The study findings demonstrated foods such as fruits and vegetables as the possible source of this outbreak, which were abundant in this province at spring. More attention, as well as better management and control on the food are needed according to World Health Day 2015: "from farm to plate, make food safe".