Campylobacter enteritis associated with contaminated water.

Approximately 3000 people in Bennington, Vermont, 19% of the population, had a diarrheal illness during the first and second weeks of June 1978. Persons affected reported abdominal cramps (86%), diarrhea (82%), malaise (73%), and headache (47%). The mean duration of illness was 4.6 days. The illness was associated with drinking unboiled water from the town water system. Investigation showed that the entire water system was probably contaminated and the source of contamination was the main unfiltered water source. Bolles Brook. Campylobacter fetus subspecies jejuni was cultured from 15 of 42 rectal swabs obtained from persons who had been ill, but not from swabs obtained from 23 persons who served as controls. No environmental samples of water and no specimens from wild or domestic animals were positive for Campylobacter. This appears to be the first waterborne outbreak of gastroenteritis associated with C. fetus subspecies jejuni.

Sudden death associated with very low calorie weight reduction regimens.

We studied the cases of 17 individuals who died suddenly of ventricular arrhythmia after prolonged use (median 5 months) of very low calorie weight reduction regimens consisting entirely or largely of protein. The deaths appeared to be independent of type of medical supervision received during the diet, daily dosage of potassium supplementation, and biological quality of the protein product used. Factors common to all cases were marked obesity at the onset of dieting, prolonged use of extremely low calorie diets (approximately 300 to 400 kcal daily), and significant and rapid weight loss. Our review of available electrocardiograms and pathological specimens revealed a pattern of cardiac changes previously described in starvation. We conclude that use of very low calorie weight reduction regimens should be curtailed until further studies determine what modifications, if any, can insure their safety.