Vibrionic Enteritis in Infants

Abstract

Introduction Vibrio comma has long been accepted as the cause of Asiatic cholera. Other morphologically similar Spirillae are widespread in nature, some as natural inhabitants of the oral and urogenital mucous membranes of animals, others as saprophytes isolated from soil and water, from cheese, etc.1Infection with Vibrio fetus is an important cause of abortion in cattle and sheep,2and Vibrio jejuni causes enteritis in cattle.3In the past 15 years occasional reports have appeared implicating animal vibrios as a cause of human disease.4,5King6has collected eight cases of V. fetus infection from the literature and has added seven more. The cases were all in adults and they exhibited such varied clinical pictures as endocarditis, abortion, pleuropneumonia, paralysis, jaundice, and, in three cases, diarrhea. Levy7has reported an outbreak of diarrheal disease in adults due probably to milkborne V. jejuni. King also records