Three-year prospective study of intestinal pathogens in Madrid, Spain

During the period July 1980 through June 1983, in a General Hospital in Madrid, the following organisms were detected from 6,970 patients with gastroenteritis: 710 Salmonella spp. 506 Campylobacter jejuni, 379 Shigella spp., 12 Yersinia enterocolitica, 1,466 rotavirus, 134 Giardia lamblia, and 4 Entamoeba histolytica. Chloramphenicol showed good activity against most tested strains of Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., and C. jejuni. The incidence of Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. was very marked in the hot dry months of the year, rotavirus predominated during the cold months, and no seasonal variations of importance were seen for C. jejuni and G. lamblia.