Klebsiella Strains Isolated from Diarrheal Infants

The cases of diarrhea reported in this study serve as an example of the difficulty encountered in assessing etiology in a situation in which diarrhea is endemic. The infant (Lactantes) ward of the Hospital Infantil of Mexico City receives cases of diarrhea throughout the year. A recent study1indicates that the most common etiological agents isolated from hospitalized cases of diarrhea in infants and children in Mexico City are members of the genus Shigella. A review of the bacteriological data obtained in August and September, 1954, from stool specimens obtained from babies sick with diarrhea revealed that the specific organism with the greatest prevalence was one of the Klebsiella group not previously observed in the Hospital Infantil. A study of clinical histories also showed that all infants yielding Klebsiella from the stools were prematures and that 9 of the 10 infected patients expired. For these reasons,