SUMMARY A disseminated viral illness was demonstrated by isolating a virus from the CSF, blood, or urine in 27% of 73 children who were admitted to hospital after a first febrile convulsion However, a viral aetiology could be implicated for 86% of the children after combining results of tissue culture, electron microscopy, mouse inoculation, complement fixation tests, and interferon assay. Parallel bacterial cultures showed a possible pathogen in 29 % of children, but in only 4 % was the pathogen isolated from the CSF, blood, or urine. No correlation was found between the nature of the pathogen (or evidence of its dissemination) and the severity of the convulsion, degree of fever, CSF protein, CSF white cells, or the WBC. The results suggest that a febrile convulsion could be a response to invasion of the blood stream or central nervous system by a micro-organism which is usually a virus. Invasion may be of such brief duration that successful isolation of the virus from the blood, CSF, or urine is not more commonly achieved.

SUMMARY In a hospital study rotavirus was identified in 51 % of 152 children with diarrhoea. These patients showed a clinical pattern that was distinct from patients in whom the diarrhoea was associated with bacteria, other viruses, or no pathogens. A respiratory illness was described in 66 % of rotavirus patients and usually preceded the gastrointestinal symptoms. Vomiting lasted between one and 3 days and was curtailed by substituting the normal diet with clear fluids. Watery diarrhoea continued for 4 or 5 days, even when rehydration was by the intravenous rather than the oral route. Prolonged diarrhoea was rare. Most children infected with rotavirus were under 2 years of age, but dehydration was most severe in infants aged between 12 and 18 months. A clinician can thus recognise the rotavirus syndrome and expect spontaneous recovery if adequate rehydration is maintained for a critical few days.

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