Contribution to the knowledge of Enteropathies of viral origin

Summary

The results of the study of 3 outbreaks of “acute gastro-enteritis” due to Enteroviruses (ECHO and Polio), occurred in Northern Italy in 1959 and 1960, are presented.

In the Crema Foundling Hospital epidemic, in which 6 out of 13 infants were struck, an ECHO-11 virus was isolated from the stools of 5 ill newborns examined (in one of them, also from the oropharyngeal washing) and from two of the contacts. In all of the available paired sera, a 4-fold or greater increase in ECHO-11 neutralizing antibodies was noted.

In the episode occurred in the Milan Rehabilitation Centre, a poliovirus type II was isolated from a large number of patients; some of them excreted type I in the days preceding the onset of enteritis. A significant increase of complement fixing antibodies for type II poliovirus was observed in many of these patients.

Of the viral agents isolated in the Sermide epidemic (Adenovirus type 3, polio types I and III, ECHO types 9, 11, 14,) serological evidence of infection was found only for ECHO-14, ECHO-9 and poliovirus type III. It should be taken into account that this outbreak did not occur in a closed community as in the other two episodes, but in an open population.

Finally, the common characteristics of the three outbreaks are discussed as far as the season of appearance and the age of the infected subjects are concerned.