Urinary tract infection in infants and children with diarrhoea

To determine when children with acute diarrhoea should be investigated for urinary tract infection (UTI), we studied 120 patients and 120 healthy age- and sex-matched controls aged 4 weeks to 5 years. In those with positive or suspicious urine cultures, bacteriuria or pyuria, urine culture was repeated. We detected UTI in 8 patients (all  2 years) and 1 boy in the control group. In those with UTI, invasive diarrhoea was observed in 1, fever in 7 and vomiting in 5 patients. In children with acute diarrhoea, investigation for UTI is only recommended for febrile, female infants aged 5–15 months.