Studies of the Acute Diarrheal Diseases: IX B. Shigella dysenteriae Infections among Institutional Inmates

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Abstract
Survey fecal cultures were obtained from young inmates of an orphanage during one summer and fall; 10.7% were positive for S. dysenteriae. Infection was found with equal frequency in children of 3 months to 4 yrs. but there was a progressive decrease in related symptoms in older children. Carriers of Flexner were common in a School for the Mentally Defective late in the course of an outbreak. They were also found frequently among inmates of 2 mental hospitals. All cultures were negative in 2 institutions where diarrheal diseases had not been a significant problem for at least 3 yrs. Dissemination could not be attributed to water or to contaminated milk or food. In the absence of flies the infections spread readily. Defective personal cleanliness and relatively direct spread from person to person appeared to account for the high attack rates.

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