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Contamination of 24 hr home bath with Legionella pneumophila is recently well recognized. Eradication of the water-bath contamination from L. pneumophila and other bacteria is an important matter to prevent the infection because the 24 hr-bathing facility is widely accepted in Japanese houses. Among the 16 bathing water samples we tested, Legionella pneumophia was isolated from 6 cases (37.5%) when the bathing water was not treated with disinfectants. Number of L. pneumophila increased up to 10(3) cfu/ml and total culturable bacterial counts reached to 10(5) cfu/ml within 5 days when the water was not treated. We selected 5 water baths among 6 positive cases to study the bactericidal effect of chlorine. As a result we concluded that the growth of L. pneumophila in 24 hr-water bath could be stopped by the 2 ppm chlorination program every day.

Physiochemical characteristics and flora of diarrhoeal and recovery faeces were investigated in 14 Kenyan children with acute gastro-enteritis. Causative micro-organisms were Shigella, Campylobacter, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, rotavirus and unknown in 6, 2, 1, 2 and 3 patients, respectively. The mean values of the pH of the diarrhoeal specimens were significantly higher than those of the recovery specimens. Large amounts of acetic acid and many other kinds of fatty acids were detected in the recovery specimens, but small amounts and few kinds of fatty acids were detected in the diarrhoeal specimens. Bacterial counts of anaerobic organisms, such as Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and Eubacterium, were lower in the diarrhoeal specimens than in the recovery ones. The normal anaerobic intestinal flora is remarkably disturbed in patients with acute gastro-enteritis. This may result in changes in fatty acid contents and in the pH of diarrhoeal faeces.