Reduction of gastroenteritis morbidity in high-risk infants.

A method of predicting infants at high risk for developing gastroenteritis was validated in a prospective study. The ability to predict a high-risk subset of the population is particularly important if risk can be reduced with preventive measures. Performance of a preventive educational task in the field by community health workers was associated with a significantly lower rate of morbidity from gastroenteritis among high-risk infants, while achieving no significant reduction among the average-risk group.