Lee J I, Hampson D J
Institute for Molecular Genetics and Animal Disease, Murdoch University, Western Australia.
Epidemiol Infect. 1992 Aug;109(1):133-41.
Intestinal spirochaetal bacteria were isolated from 59 of 181 (32.6%) faecal samples obtained from Aboriginal children and a few adults living in communities in the Kimberley region in the north of Western Australia. Colonization was more common in young Aborigines between 2 and 18 years of age than it was in adults, or in babies and children less than 2 years of age. Three of 22 Aboriginal children who were sampled on two consecutive years were colonized on both occasions. None of four other children were found to be consistently colonized with the bacteria when sampled on three sequential years, but three were positive on two consecutive visits and the other child was positive on the first and third sampling. Most Aboriginal children had abnormal or watery stools, and both abnormal and watery stool samples were significantly more likely to contain spirochaetes than were normal samples. However, it was not possible to prove that the spirochaetes were the cause of the diarrhoea. In contrast, spirochaetes were only recovered from 8 of 695 (1.2%) faecal samples that were obtained from other mainly non-Aboriginal children and adults in Western Australia or the Northern Territory of Australia, even though most of these individuals were suffering from gastrointestinal disturbances.
从西澳大利亚州北部金伯利地区社区的181份粪便样本（来自原住民儿童和少数成年人）中，有59份（32.6%）分离出肠道螺旋体细菌。在2至18岁的年轻原住民中，定植情况比成年人或2岁以下的婴儿和儿童更为常见。在连续两年采样的22名原住民儿童中，有3名在两次采样时均被定植。在连续三年采样的另外4名儿童中，没有发现有儿童持续被该细菌定植，但有3名儿童在连续两次就诊时呈阳性，另一名儿童在第一次和第三次采样时呈阳性。大多数原住民儿童有异常或水样便，与正常样本相比，异常和水样便样本中含有螺旋体的可能性显著更高。然而，无法证明螺旋体是腹泻的病因。相比之下，在从西澳大利亚州或澳大利亚北部地区的其他主要非原住民儿童和成年人中采集的695份粪便样本中，仅8份（1.2%）分离出螺旋体，尽管这些个体大多数都患有胃肠道疾病。
