Mass Incidence of Diarrhea in Kanebo Nerima Cotton Factory

Abstract

The authors reported a mass incidence of diarrhea in the above-mentioned f actory in August, 1953. Fifty-eight patients were recorded with an incidence rate of 28.2 per cent. The cause of diarrhea was attributed to a contaminated diet. The incubation period ranged from 4 to 11 days, mostly from 7 to 9 days.
Investigations were performed on 17 hospitalized patients. The clinical symptoms showed a striking resemblance to those of epidemic diarrhea. The stool cultures for dysentery bacilli, Salmonellae, and other pathogenic organisms were not contributory. The Widal reaction and the Paul-Bunnel reaction of the patient sera were negative. In the earlier stage of the disease leukopenia was observed in most of the cases with a leukocyte count of 5000 to 3000.
Virus research was unfortunately not available, and the identification of the disease with epidemic diarrhea and Mobara diarrhea remained undetermined.