NEW YORK — According to a presentation at the annual Infectious Diseases in Children Symposium, 61% of all children in the United States attend some type of out-of-home child care. Exclusions from school or child care are often unnecessary — especially for diarrheal illness — and they add to the burden of lost work time, the presenter said.

“As pediatric health care providers, we look at children and sometimes wonder why a child is in the office,” Timothy R. Shope, MD, MPH, professor of pediatrics at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, said in his presentation. “You cannot tell the parent when their child is going to be better, so you cannot tell them when they can go back to school or child care. Parents often are in the office with their child because they have been kicked out of care and, in some cases, they are losing income and might lose their job. They are also in the office because they are required by the care program or school.”