title: High prevalence of enteroinvasive Escherichia coli isolated in a remote region of northern coastal Ecuador.
abstract: Enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC) causes dysentery; however, it is less widely reported than other etiological agents in studies of diarrhea worldwide. Between August 2003 and July 2005, stool samples were collected in case-control studies in 22 rural communities in northwestern Ecuador. Infection was assessed by PCR specific for LT and STa genes of enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), the bfp gene of enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), and the ipaH gene of both enteroinvasive E. coli and Shigellae. The pathogenic E. coli most frequently identified were EIEC (3.2 cases/100 persons) and Shigellae (1.5 cases/100 persons), followed by ETEC (1.3 cases/100 persons), and EPEC (0.9 case/100 persons). EIEC exhibited similar risk-factor relationships with other pathotypes analyzed but different age-specific infection rates. EIEC was the predominant diarrheagenic bacteria isolated in our community-based study, a unique observation compared with other regions of the world.
authors.affiliation: Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Vía Interoceánica, Círculo Cumbayá, Quito, Ecuador.
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Bates
authors.forename: Owen D
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Solberg
authors.forename: Karina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ponce
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Howsmon
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cevallos
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Trueba
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.forename: Joseph N S
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Eisenberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology*; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors