Acute gastroenteritis in African and European adults in Rhodesia

Abstract

For the purpose of this article I would define acute gastroenteritis as a condition with acute onset in which the striking features are vomiting and the frequent passage of watery motions with little or no mucus or blood. Clearly there are a host of different disorders that would fulfil this definition, but my purpose is largely to present what to me as a physician is a most unsatisfactory state of affairs. Although it is known that there exists type specific E. coli, which can produce gastroenteritis, we rarely recover any organism in well over 90 per cent, of infants with this condition. Indeed, we can seldom demonstrate a causative organism and only occasionally are able to find a Shigella, Salmonella or Klebsiella one. Again, it is difficult to link or exclude a staphylococcal toxin in our cases. Then sensitivity foods, such as shell fish or eggs, often appear to be most unlikely, as they are not usually consumed by the Shona. Some suspect an enterovirus, but again, as far as I