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OBJECTIVES:

Acute bacterial gastroenteritis is associated with subsequent post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome (PI-IBS) in adults. Less is known about this relationship in children. In May 2000, contamination of municipal water byEscherichia coli0157: H7 andCampylobacterspecies caused a large outbreak of acute gastroenteritis in Walkerton, Ontario. We assessed this association among a cohort of children enrolled in the Walkerton Health Study (WHS).

METHODS:

WHS participants who were under age 16 at the time of the outbreak but who reached age 16 during the 8-year study follow-up were eligible for the pediatric PI-IBS study cohort. Eligibility also required no diagnosis of IBS or inflammatory bowel disease before the outbreak and permanent residency in the Walkerton postal code at the time of the outbreak. Validated criteria were used to classify subjects as having had no gastroenteritis (unexposed …