title: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and diarrheal disease in Mexican children.
abstract: Enterotoxigenic strains of Escherichia coli were isolated from eight (16%) of 50 Mexican children admitted to the hospital with diarrhea and from one of 50 children hospitalized for nonenteric disorders. All of the toxigenic strains tested elaborated a heat-labile enterotoxin, and in seven of nine patients no E. coli capable of concomitant production of heat-stable enterotoxin were found. None of the strains of E. coli with classical enteropathogenic serotypes isolated from nine patients with diarrhea produced either heat-labile or heat-stable enterotoxin. Although the results of this study strongly suggest that enterotoxigenic strains of E. coli are probably responsible for a significant number of cases of diarrhea in an indigenous Mexican pediatric population, further proof will require demonstration of in vivo production of enterotoxin and/or antitoxin.
mesh_terms: D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology*; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008800:Mexico
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004768:Enterotoxins