Letter: Bray's discovery of pathogenic Esch. coli as a cause of infantile gastroenteritis.

Sir, May I comment on the recent article under the above heading in the Archives (1973, 48, 923) where Bray and Beaven are given the credit for having discovered the role of pathogenic Esch. coli in infantile gastroenteritis. It would be a pity if the much earlier work of my former teacher A. Adam was to be forgotten. In 1923 he first identified special types of lactose-splitting Esch. coli as a cause of severe infantile gastroenteritis. In 1927 he further established the so-called dyspepsia-coli-types Al and AIV. This work was confirmed using serological methods by Goldschmidt (1933). Further details are to be found in Adam's book Szuglingsenteritis (1956). Without doubt the rediscovery of 'dyspepsia coli' by Bray and Beaven was extremely important, but we should not forget the earlier work published in the German literature. 0. H. BRAUN Kinderklinik des Stddt Krankenhauses, Pforzheim, Germany.