An extensive community outbreak of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli O86: B7 gastroenteritis

During the last 20 years numerous reports of hospital-associated epidemics of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EEC) gastroenteritis have appeared in the medical literature. Some of the reports suggest that EEC gastroenteritis can also be a community problem. However, community epidemics of EEC gastroenteritis comparable to those of other communicable diseases like cholera or typhoid are rare.An extensive epidemic of acute gastroenteritis occurred among children in Surat, Gujarat State, India, between 29 October and 3 December 1965. A total of 418 patients was hospitalized during this period: 344 of them were under 2 years of age. Faecal specimens from 81 children admitted between 25 November and 30 November were subjected to microbiological examination. Of these samples, 34 yielded pure cultures of E. coli O(86):B(7) and 1 yielded a pure culture of O(126):B(16). The cases occurred throughout the town including a rural ward. The morbidity rate for the total population was 0.16% and the age-specific morbidity rate for the 0-2-years age-group, was 0.98%; the highest morbidity rate (2.4%) was in the 6-11-months age-group in the urban wards. No definite mode of transmission of the disease could be established.