1. Faeces from apparently healthy Bantu school children of a periurban district of Johannesburg were examined eight times at regular intervals over a period of 1 year.
2. Of 75 children, 29·3 % experienced at least one salmonella infection and 2·7 % one shigella infection. It is suggested that over a year nearly all children will have one, and many of them several, infections with these pathogens. The infections occurred at a low rate throughout the year.
3. In most cases the infections were asymptomatic. A few of the children showed evidence of being salmonella carriers of long standing.
4. Eighteen different salmonella types were recovered. Salmonella typhi, S. paratyphi B and S. paratyphi C were absent. The organisms were highly resistant to penicillin, erythromycin and novobiocin and a few strains were also resistant to chloramphenicol and tetracycline.
5. The drinking water was of poor quality and may well be implicated in the transmission of the infections.
Our thanks are due to the Director of this Institute, Dr J. H. S. Gear, for permission to publish this paper; to Mr R. G. Robinson for assessing the microorganisms'sensitivity to antibiotics; and to the South African Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, for a grant enabling us to meet the transport expenses.