Epidemic Diarrhea in Premature Infants

IN MARCH 1962 during an outbreak of diarrhea in the ward for premature infants of a small children's hospital (Hospital Moctezuma) in Mexico City, a newly reported serotype of Escherichia coli (0142:K86[B]:H6) which appears to have enteropathogenic properties was isolated. Attempts to recover known enteroviruses or other enteropathogenic bacteria during the epidemic were unsuccessful. Previous to this time, there has been only the original description of this serotype of E coli recorded in the literature. This characterization by Orskov et al 1 was based on a strain isolated from the stools of an infant with diarrhea in Djakarta. Description of Outbreak From March 4 to April 6, 1962, 18 of 21 premature children admitted to the ward of the Hospital Moctezuma developed diarrhea. All these children had come from different maternity hospitals in Mexico City. Six of the 18 infants with diarrhea were seen between March 4 and March 9