Resumen

Background: Strains of Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) have been associated with outbreaks of diarrhea, hemorrhagic colitis, and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in humans around the world. In this study we investigated the prevalence of STEC in hospitalized diarrhea patients (children) in Faisalabad region of Pakistan. Methodology: We used a multiplex polymerase chain reaction to characterize local isolates of STEC from stool samples of 200 children during the summer season of 2005. The targeted genes were stx1, stx2, hly, and eae, representing Shiga toxin 1, Shiga toxin 2, enterohemolysin and intimin respectively. Presence of stx1 and stx2 was confirmed by PCR followed by restriction analysis with Tail and HaeIII respectively. Serological examination was carried out by using polyvalent antisera followed by monovalent antisera for O26 and O157. Results: Multiplex PCR results showed that 22 (11%) of the patients were positive for stx genes. Among other virulence factors, plasmid borne hly and eae genes were detected in 13 (6.5 %) and 16 (8.0 %) patients respectively. However, only 14 STEC isolates were obtained. Among these 11(78.5%), 11(78.5%), 3(21.4%) and 6 (42.8%) were positive for stx1, stx2, hly and eae genes respectively. Only 3 of these isolates belonged to serotype O157. Conclusions: Our results show that the prevalence of STEC is significant in this area and has potential to become a major health problem in the future. It was also observed that serotype O157 was not the major pathogen.

Palabras clave: Diarrhea Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) Pakistan.

2007-11-06   |   1,376 visitas   |   1 valoraciones

Vol. 1 Núm.2. Octubre 2007 Pags. 164-169 J Infect Developing Countries 2007; 1(2)