Determination by DNA hybridization of Shiga-like-toxin-producing Escherichia coli in children with diarrhea in Thailand.
Specific DNA probes were used to identify Shiga-like-toxin (SLT) I- and II-producing Escherichia coli from children less than 5 years of age with bloody diarrhea, in infants with diarrhea, and in controls of the same age without diarrhea in Thailand. At one hospital, SLT-producing E. coli was identified in 4 (7%) of 54 children with bloody diarrhea from whom other enteric pathogens were not identified and from 3 (6%) of 50 children without diarrhea. In the positive specimens, SLT-producing E. coli constituted only 0.3 to 4% of the 100 to 300 colonies on the replica blots. Non-toxin-encoding 933J and 933W bacteriophagelike DNA sequences were detected by colony hybridization with E. coli isolates from 18 (33%) of 54 children with bloody diarrhea and 23 (46%) of 50 controls. At another hospital, SLT-producing E. coli was not identified in 115 infants with diarrhea and 119 controls without diarrhea. One infant with diarrhea was infected with E. coli O76:H7 that hybridized with the enterohemorrhagic E. coli probe but not with the SLT probes. E. coli producing SLT I or SLT II was isolated in small numbers from a similar proportion of Thai children with bloody diarrhea in whom no other enteric pathogen was identified and from controls without diarrhea.
Brown
J E
JE
Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand.
Echeverria
P
P
Taylor
D N
DN
Seriwatana
J
J
Vanapruks
V
V
Lexomboon
U
U
Neill
R N
RN
Newland
J W
JW
D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015342:DNA Probes; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000209:etiology*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D022603:Shiga Toxins; D013785:Thailand
D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D015342:DNA Probes; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D022603:Shiga Toxins