Intractable diarrhea in infancy--whether infection, zinc deficiency, cholestasis and hemorrhage are causes or results?

Although there has been a marked decrease in the number of infants with intractable diarrhea in Japan, the difficulty in treating it still remains unchanged. Here we report two infants who suffered presumably from "chronic nonspecific enterocolitis" with resistance to the usual treatment. Besides prolonged diarrhea and weight loss, they showed manifestations such as infection, zinc deficiency, cholestasis, abnormal blood coagulation, etc. In this paper, we discuss whether they are causes, effects, results, or coincidences. In spite of the reduction of diarrhea after 3 months of age, both babies are even now being followed up by us because of their still poor weight gain.