A bacteriological study of the intestinal mucosa and luminal fluid of adults with acute diarrhoea.

Bacteriological studies of jejunal mucosal biopsy specimens and contents were performed on 22 hospitalized adult patients with acute diarrhoea and 24 control normal subjects. None of the washed homogenates of the mucosal specimens were sterile and only one fluid specimen obtained from a control subject was sterile. A definite enteric pathogen was found in only five of the 22 diarrhoea patients. There was no qualitative difference in the bacterial profile of the jejunal mucosa and contents of the diarrhoea patients from that of the control subjects, but there were significant quantitative differences for some bacterial categories. In the control as well as diarrhoea subjects, there was no qualitative difference in the bacterial profile of the jejunal mucosa from that of the fluid, but there were significant quantitative differences for some bacterial categories. The significance of the findings is discussed.