Papers
Breast feeding and acute appendicitis
BMJ 1995; 310 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.310.6983.836 (Published 01 April 1995) Cite this as: BMJ 1995;310:836
- Alfredo Pisacane, senior lecturera,
- Ugo de Luca, senior registrarb,
- Nicola Impagliazzo, postgraduate traineea,
- Maria Russo, postgraduate traineea,
- Carmela De Caprio, postgraduate traineeb,
- Giuseppe Caracciolo, professorb
- a Dipartimento di Pediatria, Universita di Napoli, 80131 Naples, Italy
- b Divisione di Chirurgia, Ospedale Santobono, USL 40 Regione Campania, Italy
- Correspondence to: Dr Pisacane.
- Accepted 18 January 1995
Acute appendicitis is the commonest reason for abdominal surgery in many countries, but its cause is unknown.1 The hygiene hypothesis attributes the rise in appendicitis that occurred in the United Kingdom at the beginning of this century to improvements in sewage disposal and water supplies in the late 19th century.2 These improvements in hygiene greatly reduced the exposure of infants to enteric organisms that programme the immune system of the gut, thereby rendering the bowel more susceptible to triggering infection later in life. Knowledge about risk factors for appendicitis is, however, poor, and the roles of diet,3 housing, and amenities …