Detection and Characterization of Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli from Young Children in Hanoi, Vietnam

• Published in: Journal of Clinical Microbiology Vol. 43; no. 2; pp. 755 - 760
• Main Authors: Nguyen, Trung Vu, Le Van, Phung, Le Huy, Chinh, Gia, Khanh Nguyen, Weintraub, Andrej
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for Microbiology 01.02.2005
• Subjects: Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Child, Preschool; Diarrhea - diagnosis; Diarrhea - epidemiology; Diarrhea - microbiology; DNA Primers; DNA, Bacterial - analysis; Epidemiology; Escherichia coli - classification; Escherichia coli - genetics; Escherichia coli - isolation & purification; Escherichia coli Infections - diagnosis; Escherichia coli Infections - epidemiology; Escherichia coli Infections - microbiology; Feces - microbiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infectious diseases; Medical sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Prevalence; Sensitivity and Specificity; Species Specificity; Vietnam - epidemiology; Asia; Vietnam; Human; Microbiology; Escherichia coli; Bacteria; Detection; Child; Enterobacteriaceae
• ISSN: 0095-1137; 1098-660X
• DOI: 10.1128/JCM.43.2.755-760.2005

Diarrhea continues to be one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality among infants and children in developing countries. Escherichia coli is an emerging agent among pathogens that cause diarrhea. The development of a highly applicable technique for the detection of different categories of diarrheagenic E. coli is important. We have used multiplex PCR by combining eight primer pairs specific for enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC), enterohemorrhagic E. coli, enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), and enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC). This facilitates the identification of five different categories of diarrheagenic E. coli from stool samples in a single reaction simultaneously. The prevalences of diarrheagenic E. coli were 22.5 and 12% in the diarrhea group and the control group, respectively. Among 587 fecal samples from Vietnamese children under 5 years of age with diarrhea, this technique identified 132 diarrheagenic E. coli strains. This included 68 samples (11.6%) with EAEC, 12 samples (2.0%) with EIEC, 39 samples (6.6%) with EPEC, and 13 samples (2.2%) with ETEC. Among the 249 age-matched controls, 30 samples were positive for diarrheagenic E. coli. The distribution was 18 samples (7.2%) with EAEC, 11 samples (4.4%) with EPEC, and 1 sample (0.4%) with ETEC.