Lactase Activity Before and After Acute Febrile Bacterial Illness

To investigate the hypothesis that the isolated lactase deficiency seen in healthy adults may be an acquired enzyme deficiency resulting from nonspecific insults or diseases, jejunal disaccharidase activity was measured in 6 volunteers who were challenged with Salmonella typhosa. Three were studied before and after the onset of clinical illness. Of the 6 individuals, 3 developed positive blood cultures and sustained fevers of greater than 103F for at least 2 days. There were no changes in lactase or other disaccharidase levels, and all values were within normal limits. Thus lactase deficiency was not produced by prolonged temperature elevations.