Seroepidemiology of heat-labile enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and Norwalk virus infections in Panamanians, Canal Zone residents, Apache Indians, and United States Peace Corps volunteers

Serum antibody titrations against the heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) of Escherichia coli were carried out on Panamanians, U.S. citizens resident in the Panama Canal Zone, Apache Indians living on the reservation in Whiteriver, Arizona, and Peace Corps volunteers before they traveled overseas. Antibody titers to Norwalk virus were also carried out on serum from Panamanian and Canal Zone residents. A high prevalence of low-titer LT antibodies was found in infants and adults from Panama, the Canal Zone, and Whiteriver. Panamanian children aged 1 to 5 years had the highest LT antibody titers. Peace Corps volunteers had a low prevalence and titer of LT antibodies. Prevalence and titer of antibodies to Norwalk virus were generally higher in Panamanians compared with Canal Zone residents of the same age. In the populations we studied, various modes of transmission and mechanisms of immunity likely explain the differences which we observed in antibody prevalence and titer to these two enteric pathogens.