Association between Diarrhoea and Adenovirus Type 7

During October, 1958, the Health Department became aware of an increase in notifications of cases of diarrhoea in Newbiggin.Cases which were notified had stools examined routinely for bacterial pathogens, and it was noted that less than half of the cases were excreting Shigella sonnei, while the rest were negative for bacterial pathogens.The possibility of a virus cause was considered.Ramos-Alvarez and Sabin (1958) found the E.C.H.O. group of viruses more common in children with diarrhoea, as did Sommerville (1958) in Scotland.Neither group of workers found an increase in adenovirus isolation associated with diarrhoea.Kjelldn et al. (1957a, 1957b), however, reported a number of cases with respiratory infection caused by type 3 adenovirus which also suffered from diarrhoea.It was considered of sufficient interest to describe this outbreak of diarrhoea in which adenovirus type 7 was isolated from a number of cases.The Outbreak The outbreak at Newbiggin started at the beginning of October, and from October 1 to December 31, 1958, 99 cases were notified (see Chart).Of these, only 40 16 15 14 13