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The spread of infantile gastro-enteritis in a cubicled ward

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

K. B. Rogers
Affiliation:
From the Children's Hospital, Birmingham.
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The type strains of Bact. coli, described by Bray (1945), Giles & Sangster (1948), Giles et al. (1949), Taylor et al. (1949), Smith (1949) and Rogers (1951b), because of their very intimate association with epidemic infantile gastro-enteritis, have been used as indicator organisms to show that the method of cross-infection of epidemic gastro-enteritis is very like that of the cross-infection of burns.

It has been shown how a cubicle becomes widely contaminated within 18 hr. and that type strains of Bact. coli will remain viable in dust for at least 27 days. Communal articles used throughout a ward are blamed for the inter-cubicle spread in a divided ward.

The intimate association of the α- and β-types of Bact. coli with outbreaks of gastro-enteritis is demonstrated, and figures are given to show how these outbreaks prolong the patient's stay in hospital and waste valuable hospital space.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1951

References

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