A STUDY OF ILLNESS IN A GROUP OF CLEVELAND FAMILIES

Abstract

A clinical description is given of illnesses believed to represent acute, infectious, nonbacterial gastroenteritis. These illnesses occurred among members of a group of families over a 3-year period. Because cases of acute, nonbacterial gastroenteritis cannot be identified by direct methods, the description is based on unexplained occurrences of one or more of 3 major gastrointestinal symptoms: vomiting, diarrhea or abdominal pain. Any case, the course of which was obscured by concurrent respiratory disease, was excluded from the description. Most of the illnesses began abruptly with the appearance of a major gastrointestinal symptom; in less than 10% were nonspecific prodromata present one or more calendar days in advance. In general, the illnesses were mild. Neither repeated vomiting nor a large number of diarrheal stools was common. Most cases were afebrile. The duration of illness was short. In over half of the cases symptoms lasted 1 day or less. Relative frequency of individual symptoms and course of illness varied with age of patient.