Rearing regimen producing piglet diarrhea (rotavirus) and its relevance to acute infantile diarrhea.

Piglets were weaned when 1 day old and thus were denied further access to the antibodies supplied by their dam's milk. They were placed in a nursery in which contamination by the ubiquitous rotavirus steadily increased with continuous use causing a progressive increase in the incidence of vomiting, diarrhea, and death among the piglets. A similar syndrome involving an antigenically related rotavirus and analogous management practices occurs in human infants.