High prevalence of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli among children with diarrhea in Kenya.

High prevalence of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli among children with diarrhea in Kenya. Jpn J Infect Dis. 2016 May 9; Authors: Iijima Y, Oundo JO, Hibino T, Saidi SM, Hinenoya A, Osawa K, Shirakawa T, Osawa R, Yamasaki S Abstract Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) is an important agent of endemic and epidemic diarrhea worldwide, particularly in developing countries. DEC cannot be differentiated from the commensal E. coli on selective media with few exceptions. Most studies based on colony isolation method, which cannot detect presence of low numbers of DEC, might underestimate the incidence of DEC. In the present study, we employed colony sweep method with real-time PCR targeting virulence genes of 5 categories of DEC, which can detect very low numbers of DEC among hundreds of commensal E. coli. DEC was detected in 171 (55.9%) of 306 children with diarrhea in Kenya. Prevalence of DEC in Kenya was definitely higher than that (30 in 143, 21.0%) in Indonesia. Occurrences of multiple DEC infection in Kenya were frequent (69 in 306, 23.2%), suggesting that the source of DEC infection may be related to grossly contaminated food and water. In contrast, only 9 (6.0%) in 150 heathy adults in Kenya carried DEC. Considering that the healthy adults naturally harbor non-DEC, it is interesting how children exclude DEC only but not non-DEC with growth of age. Several mechanisms such as mucosal immune system and intestinal microbiota might involv...
Source: Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Jpn J Infect Dis Source Type: research