title: Incidence of sporadic infections due to enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) in the population of Hamburg, north Germany.
abstract: In two studies (1982 and 1985/86), the presence of enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) and other enteropathogenic bacteria was investigated in 779 stool specimens from children and adults with and without diarrhoeal disease. ETEC was isolated from 2% of diseased children and 1.6% of adult patients, but also from 0.5% of asymptomatic persons. Mixed infections with two different ETEC strains or with other enteropathogenic bacteria were identified in 4 of 9 infected persons. The ETEC strains belonged to 10 different serovars, eight of which produced only heat-stable enterotoxin. One infection had been contracted in a tropical country. After Salmonella and Campylobacter, ETEC was more frequently isolated than Yersinia and Shigella; the difference of ETEC infections in diseased and asymptomatic persons was, however, not statistically significant (p greater than 0.05). Analysis of the isolated serovars suggests that most ETEC strains implicated in sporadic cases of diarrhoea in Hamburg are unrelated to those which are widely spread in the developing world.
authors.affiliation: Medizinaluntersuchungsanstalt, Institute of Hygiene, Hamburg.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bockemühl
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wohlers
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aleksić
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Prause
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mühlau
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Plavsić
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shahin
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Aleksić
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D005860:Germany, West / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D004768:Enterotoxins