Seasonal and racial incidence of infantile gastroenteritis in South Africa

Abstract

Robins-Browne, R. M. (Dept. of Microbiology, U. of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia). Seasonal and racial incidence of infantile gastroenteritis in South Africa. Am J Epidemiol 1984; 119: 350-5.The etiology of summer diarrhea, which formerly caused extensive mortality in children living in industrialized countries, was never discovered. This condition no longer occurs in developed countries, having been replaced by winter diarrhea, which is associated with a low mortality. Summer epidemics of diarrhea still take place in black South African infants, whereas, in white South African children, the pattern of diarrhea is similar to that seen in children in industrialized countries ..