The aim of this study was to establish the risk of acquiring common respiratory and gastrointestinal illness for paediatric nurses. Using self-administered questionnaires, student nurses at two children's hospitals and students at one school of medical technology reported biweekly the number of minor illnesses, symptoms, and indicators of severity of infection over a 3-year period (1975-8). Although a systematic bias was evident with some symptoms, others appeared to be quite reliable. The following four syndromes were defined to estimate the risk: upper respiratory syndrome (URS), lower respiratory syndrome (LRS), respiratory and gastrointestinal syndrome (RGS), and gastrointestinal syndrome (GS). Surveillance days were allocated to groups with high- or low-intensity contact with children. The incidence of all illnesses was 2.9 per person-year in the low-intensity contact group and 4.4 per person-year in the high-intensity contact group. The reported incidence of LRS and RGS in the high-intensity contact group was 1.55 times higher than in the low-intensity group (P less than 0.001). LRS and RGS incidence was similar in nurses at both schools. During low contact periods it corresponded to that of the medical technologists.

SUMMARYThe occupational risk of acquiring minor respiratory infections for paediatric student nurses was estimated by performing serological examinations with influenza A, B, C, parainfluenza, mumps, respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus and Mycoplasma pneumoniae at 6-month intervals over a period of 4 years in paediatric student nurses at two schools of nursing and students at one school of medical technology. Titre increases against all tested agents occurred 1-86 times more often in the student nurses than in the medical technology students, the most frequent agents in both groups being influenza A and B. No difference in the relative distribution of the agents could be verified in the two occupational groups. Data on the protective value of pre-infectious antibody levels for influenza A, B, and coronavirus OC43 and on the importance of the spread of single agents among classmates are presented.