title: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in Central Australia: diagnosis using cloned and synthetic nucleic acid probes.
abstract: Feces from 169 children admitted with diarrhea to Alice Springs Hospital, were screened for enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) using specific DNA probes. E. coli which hybridized with probes for ST-P, ST-H and LT were confirmed by bioassay for toxin production. Fifty children were shown to excrete ETEC. The probes for LT correlated well with bioassay; however, probes for ST-H and ST-P hybridized with more E. coli than were shown to produce toxin by bioassay. When probing for ST was repeated using a synthetic oligonucleotide probe, only those specimens which were bioassay-positive hybridized with the probe.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Microbiology, Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide.
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Higgins
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lanser
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Erlich
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Manning
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000633:toxicity*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D009841:Oligonucleotides; D010957:Plasmids
chemical_list: D004768:Enterotoxins; D009841:Oligonucleotides; D004247:DNA