[The current status of infectious enteritis in Japan--reports of the "Research Group for Infectious Enteric Diseases, Japan" in the last 5 years (1996-2000)].

The patients or carriers with infectious enteritis admitted to the Hospitals for infectious diseases in the last 5 years (1996-2000) were studied. The total number of cases admitted in each year were 969, 1,113, 981, 637 and 573 respectively. A total of 1,527 Shigella spp. strains including 1,078 strains from overseas travelers' cases were isolated. The isolates of Salmonella spp. excluding S. Typhi and S. Paratyphi A were 562 in number. A total of 61 Vibrio cholerae O1 strains including 44 strains from overseas travelers was isolated. These V. cholerae O1 strains were all of El Tor type. Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, Cryptosporidium parvum and Isospora belli were detected in 225, 46, 3 and 3 cases respectively. Abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting were frequently observed in the cases caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The highest body temperature and the highest frequency of bowel movements were revealed in the cases caused by Salmonella spp. Bloody stool was observed in 55.3% of the cases due to Escherichia coli, in 40.5% of the cases due to Campylobacter spp. and in 24.1% of cases due to Shigella spp. As for shigellosis and salmonellosis, the clinical symptoms were more serious in the domestic cases than those in travelers. OFLX-resistant strains accounted for 1.7% of Shigella spp. isolates. No strains of Salmonella spp. were resistant to OFLX. The incidence of drug-resistant isolates of Campylobacter jejuni were 26.0% for OFLX and 2.5% for EM.