Department of Pathology/Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine,
Jordan University Hospital, Amman, Jordan.
ashehabi@go.com.jo
In a prospective study carried out among Jordanian children in
Amman, a total of 73/250 (29.2%) stool specimens were positive
for 1 or more diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli strains using a
multiplex polymerase chain reaction method. This study indicated
that diarrhoeagenic E. coli isolates were found frequently more
in stools of children with diarrhoea (34%) than without
diarrhoea (23.1%), but without any significant difference (p >
0.05). The predominant diarrhoeagenic E. coli strains associated
with diarrhoea were enteropathogenic E. coli (11.3%), followed
by enterotoxigenic E. coli (9.8%) and enteroaggrative E. coli
(9%), whereas in the control group these were 4.3%, 11.1% and
6%, respectively. Enteroinvasive E. coli strains (2.9%) were
found only in stools of children with diarrhoea. This study
revealed the absence of enterohaemorrhagic E. coli in both
diarrhoeal and control stools, and found that diarrhoeagenic E.
coli isolates were highly resistance to tetracycline (55%), co-trimoxazole
(60%) and ampicillin (89%), which are commonly used antibiotics
in Jordan.
PMID: 12953946 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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