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Abstract
Escherichia coli isolates (n = 2629) were collected between 1996 and 2000 from 2100 Thai children less than 12 years of age with acute diarrhoea. Enterotoxigenic (ETEC), enteroinvasive (EIEC), Shiga-toxin-producing (STEC), enteropathogenic (EPEC) and enteroaggregative (EAEC) E. coli were identified by their virulence marker profiles, as determined by multiplex PCR, and HeLa cell-adherence patterns. Serogroups of isolates were determined using 43 monovalent O antisera. Of 2629 isolates, 16.9 % were identified as diarrhoeagenic E. coli, and the mean isolation rates per year were 10.2 % for EAEC (range 8–12.5 %), 3.2 % for EPEC (0–8 %), 3.0 % for ETEC (2–5.4 %), 0.5 % for EIEC (0–1 %) and 0.04 % for STEC (0–0.1 %). The isolation rates of pathotypes from four different age groups (0–5 months, 6–11 months, 1–2 years and 2–12 years) in 905 children whose ages were recorded were respectively 19.3, 18.2, 9.1 and 8.1 % for EAEC, 3.1, 4.3, 1.7 and 2.2 % for EPEC and 2.6, 2.3, 1.3 and 5 % for ETEC. About 38 % of diarrhoeagenic E. coli, including 55.1, 66.7, 100, 45.9 and 29 %, respectively, of ETEC, EIEC, STEC, EPEC and EAEC, and 24 % of non-diarrhoeagenic E. coli were O-antigen typable. Only four serogroups (9.3 %) were restricted to single pathotypes, whereas 27 serogroups (62.8 %) were not restricted to any pathotype. This study shows that EAEC are the most prevalent diarrhoea-associated pathotype in Thai children.
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