{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,23]],"date-time":"2026-02-23T12:15:52Z","timestamp":1771848952040,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene","issue":"3","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Children in low-income countries experience multiple illness symptoms in early childhood. Breastfeeding is protective against diarrhea and respiratory infections, and these illnesses are thought to be risk factors of one another, but these relationships have not been explored simultaneously. In the eight-site MAL-ED study, 1,731 infants were enrolled near birth and followed for 2 years. We collected symptoms and diet information through twice-weekly household visits. Poisson regression was used to determine if recent illness history was associated with incidence of diarrhea or acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI), accounting for exclusive breastfeeding. Recent diarrhea was associated with higher risk of incident diarrhea after the first 6 months of life (relative risk [RR] 1.10, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04, 1.16) and with higher risk of incident ALRI in the 3- to 5-month period (RR 1.23, 95% CI 1.03, 1.47). Fever was a consistent risk factor for both diarrhea and ALRI. Exclusive breastfeeding 0\u20136 months was protective against diarrhea (0\u20132 months: RR 0.39, 95% CI 0.32, 0.49; 3\u20135 months: RR 0.83, 95% CI 0.75, 0.93) and ALRI (3\u20135 months: RR 0.81, 95% CI 0.68, 0.98). Children with recent illness who were exclusively breastfed were half as likely as those not exclusively breastfed to experience diarrhea in the first 3 months of life. Recent illness was associated with greater risk of new illness, causing illnesses to cluster within children, indicating that specific illness-prevention programs may have benefits for preventing other childhood illnesses. The results also underscore the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months of life for disease prevention.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4269\/ajtmh.17-0457","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,1,30]],"date-time":"2018-01-30T07:00:16Z","timestamp":1517295616000},"page":"904-912","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":23,"title":["Relationships among Common Illness Symptoms and the Protective Effect of Breastfeeding in Early Childhood in MAL-ED: An Eight-Country Cohort Study"],"prefix":"10.4269","volume":"98","author":[{"given":"Stephanie A.","family":"Richard","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Fogarty International Center\/National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Benjamin J. J.","family":"McCormick","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fogarty International Center\/National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jessica C.","family":"Seidman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fogarty International Center\/National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zeba","family":"Rasmussen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fogarty International Center\/National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Margaret N.","family":"Kosek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Elizabeth T.","family":"Rogawski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"William","family":"Petri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Anuradha","family":"Bose","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Christian Medical College, Vellore, India;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Estomih","family":"Mduma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Haydom Lutheran Hospital, Haydom, Tanzania;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bruna L. L.","family":"Maciel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ram Krishna","family":"Chandyo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zulfiqar","family":"Bhutta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ali","family":"Turab","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Pascal","family":"Bessong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Venda, Thohoyandou, South Africa;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mustafa","family":"Mahfuz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"icddr,b, Dhaka, Bangladesh"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Laura E.","family":"Caulfield","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"_","family":"_","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fogarty International Center\/National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland;"},{"name":"Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland;"},{"name":"University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia;"},{"name":"Christian Medical College, Vellore, India;"},{"name":"Haydom Lutheran Hospital, Haydom, Tanzania;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"2795","reference":[{"key":"b1","series-title":"Lancet","first-page":"1603","article-title":"Global, regional, and national disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 315 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (HALE), 1990\u20132015: a systematic analysis for the Global 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