Salmonellae and shigellae in a group of rural South African Bantu school children

Abstract

1. Faeces from rural, outwardly healthy Bantu school children from a Native Reserve region have been bacteriologically examined seven times at regular intervals over a period of one year.2. Of 75 children, 44·0% experienced at least one salmonella infection and 29·3% one shigella infection; considering the infections together, salmonellae or shigellae were recovered from 72·0% of the individuals. The observations are discussed and the view is expressed that over a period of one year, practically all children experience one, and many of them several, attacks by these pathogens.3. In the majority of cases, the infections appeared to be subclinical and of short duration. There was no evidence proving the existence of chronic carriers.4. Salmonelloses showed a seasonal dependence with the highest incidence in early summer, i.e. December. Shigelloses was distributed evenly throughout the year.5. The recovered salmonellae were of twenty types. Salm. typhi, Salm. paratyphi A, B and C were not isolated. Members of all shigella groups were encountered.6. All the recovered strains from the Tlaseng area were sensitive to streptomycin, chioromycetin, terramycin, achromycin and neomycin, and most of them to aureomycin and erythromycin. In comparison, salmonella strains isolated from the Johannesburg urban area showed signs of increased resistance to the same antibiotics.7. Water was probably implicated in the conveyance of the infections.We should like to express our thanks to the Director of this Institute, Prof. E. H. Cluver, for permission to publish this paper; to Mr R. G. Robinson for assessing the micro-organisms' sensitivity/resistance to antibiotics; to Dr P. A. Christensen for statistical advice; and to Dr A. R. P. Walker (of the Human Biochemistry Research Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research), who incurred the major portion of the expenses of transport by permitting us to accompany him during his investigation on bilharziasis and nutritional state in the Bantu school children.