ENDEMIC INFECTIOUS HEPATITIS IN AN INFANTS' ORPHANAGE: Epidemiologic Studies in Infants and Small Children

IT HAS been known for many years that infectious hepatitis may occur in infants and small children. 1 Relatively few cases, however, have been reported, and the incidence of the disease in children under 3 years of age is said to be low. 2 Molner and Meyer, 1e for example, in reporting on 194 children with the disease from Detroit, found only 5 between the ages of 1 and 4 years, but 77 between the ages of 5 and 9 years. Although this age differential may be due in part to residual maternal immunity or to the lack of exposure, it may also be the result of failure to recognize the disease. The degree of susceptibility would appear to be fairly high from Cookson's 1h finding that 20 of 66 children, mostly under 4 years of age, in a children's nursery acquired hepatitis with jaundice. Adequate descriptions of the clinical and laboratory findings in