Gastroenteritis of infants in two Canadian communities.

Enteroviruses were isolated from 11 of 1391 rectal swabs collected from 1103 infants aged less than 2 years who were hospitalized in Toronto, Ontario, and New Westminster, British Columbia, between April 1966 and March 1969. Viruses were recovered from 23 of 1231 rectal swabs obtained from 1076 age-matched control patients without gastroenteritis. The dominance of coxsackievirus and echovirus strains in Toronto patients with and without gastroenteritis contrasted sharply to their extremely low incidence in New Westminster where the Sabin attenuated strains of poliovirus composed the majority of isolates from both categories of patient. Although enteropathogenic bacteria were identified in 36 cases of gastroenteritis and 11 control subjects, no patient excreted a bacterial pathogen and a virus simultaneously.