Echeverria P, Blacklow N R, Smith D H
Lancet. 1975 Dec 6;2(7945):1113-6. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(75)91004-1.
61 Boston children aged five years or less with acute diarrhoea were studied for evidence of infection with Escherichia coli strains that produce heat-labile enterotoxin (L.T.) or with a reovirus-like agent associated with childhood gastroenteritis. This represented the first evaluation of the prevalence of disease produced by these two agents in the same population. E. coli, isolated from acute-phase stool specimens, were tested in adrenal-cell tissue-culture and adult-rabbit ileal-loop assays for L.T. Acute and convalescent phase sera, collected from 31 children, were tested by the adrenal-cell assay for anti-L.T. activity. None of the 61 children demonstrated evidence of infection with L.T.-positive E. coli. Paired sera from 31 of the children studied were also tested for evidence of recent infection with the reovirus-like agent by determining titres of immunofluorescent-staining antibody to the serologically related Nebraska calf diarrhoea virus. 11 of the children (35%) had evidence of recent infection. These results suggest that an important proportion of endemic acute diarrhoea of young children in Boston is caused by the reovirus-like agent, and that disease caused by L.T.-producing E. coli is uncommon.
对61名五岁及以下患急性腹泻的波士顿儿童进行了研究，以寻找感染产生不耐热肠毒素（L.T.）的大肠杆菌菌株或感染与儿童肠胃炎相关的呼肠孤病毒样病原体的证据。这是对同一人群中这两种病原体所致疾病患病率的首次评估。从急性期粪便标本中分离出的大肠杆菌，在肾上腺细胞组织培养和成年兔回肠袢试验中检测L.T.。从31名儿童中采集急性期和恢复期血清，通过肾上腺细胞试验检测抗L.T.活性。61名儿童中无一显示感染L.T.阳性大肠杆菌的证据。还通过测定针对血清学相关的内布拉斯加小牛腹泻病毒的免疫荧光染色抗体滴度，对所研究的31名儿童的配对血清进行检测，以寻找近期感染呼肠孤病毒样病原体的证据。11名儿童（35%）有近期感染的证据。这些结果表明，波士顿幼儿地方性急性腹泻的一个重要比例是由呼肠孤病毒样病原体引起的，而由产生L.T.的大肠杆菌引起的疾病并不常见。
