A study of illness in a group of Cleveland families. VII. Transmission of acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis to volunteers: evidence for two different etiologic agents.

Feeding of stool supernates to volunteers has demonstrated that there are at least two different types-afebrile and febrile-of acute infectious non-bacterial gastroenteritis. The afebrile illness, produced by the Marcy agent previously described, has an average incubation period of 60 hours and is characterized by watery diarrhea. The agent (FS) responsible for the febrile illness has been carried through 3 human passages. The febrile disease has an average incubation period of 27 hours and is characterized by constitutional symptoms. It is believed that the two agents are not the same because of the differences in incubation period, the clinical picture, and the absence of cross-immunity. Intranasal instillation of throat washings obtained from 2 persons with gastroenteritis failed to produce illness in 2 groups of volunteers.