Patterns of intestinal infection in Australian Aboriginal children.

A year-long, prospective study of Aboriginal children with diarrhoea showed a high rate of isolation of bacterial pathogens, viruses and parasites in faecal specimens. Seventeen per cent of patients had enterotoxigenic bacteria in their stools; none of the 132 Aboriginal children without diarrhoea studied at the same time had enterotoxigenic bacteria isolated. Salmonellae and shigellae were also much more common in the diarrhoea group. Bacterial pathogens including enterotoxigenic E. coli and Aeromonas, salmonella, shigella, and campylobacter occurred in 39% of the diarrhoea group but were found in only 4.5% of the controls. Rotaviruses were detected in 12% of children with diarrhoea and in 8% of controls. Intestinal parasites, particularly Giardia lamblia, were present in over 25% of children in each group.