title: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in children with acute diarrhoea and controls in Teresina/PI, Brazil: distribution of enterotoxin and colonization factor genes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the distribution of the genes that encode enterotoxins and the colonization factors (CF) types as well as the antibiotic susceptibility profile of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) isolated from children from the Brazilian Northeast.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We conducted a 3·5-year prospective study that involved 250 children with and 150 without diarrhoea, aged 1-60 months, from low-income families in Teresina/Brazilian Northeast. All samples were assayed for E. coli, enterotoxin and CF genes and antimicrobial susceptibility by microbiological methods and PCR. ETEC strains were isolated from 9·2% children with and 4·0% without diarrhoea. Infection was more common in children aged 6-24 months in rainy months. elt⁺ /CFA/IV⁺ and elt⁺ /CS14⁺ were the most frequent genotypes. Susceptibility to nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin and gentamicin and resistance to ampicillin, cephalothin and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim were common.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  elt ⁺isolates and ETEC strains harbouring genes encoding CFA/IV and CS/14 were the most common ETEC found in Brazilian Northeast.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data, the first generated for north-eastern Brazilian children, may be important for the development of an effective vaccine and for facilitation of an empirical choice of antibiotic treatment or prophylaxis for traveller's diarrhoea in the area studied.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia e Microbiologia, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Piauí, Campus Universitário Ministro Petrônio Portella, Teresina, PI, Brazil.
authors.forename: M R C M
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Penna
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.forename: E N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Mendes
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Magalhães
mesh_terms: D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics; D001938:Brazil; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology*; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D054307:Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015662:Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination / Q000627:therapeutic use; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D037521:Virulence Factors; D015662:Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination