Low breath hydrogen production in post-diarrheic infants.

Thirty hospitalized infants, aged 1 month to 15 months, who were more than 24 hours into a post-recovery period from diarrheic episodes were studied for breath hydrogen production due to intestinal lactulose fermentation. Only 16% of the infants demonstrated hydrogen production of greater than 20 parts per million (ppm) over the baseline. We conclude that a recovery period much longer than 24 hours from the last diarrheic episode is necessary to obtain any reliable data from breath hydrogen tests administered to infants.