Abstract
Indiscriminate waste dumps represent an ecological source of diarrhoeagenic E.coli (DEC) in urban informal settlements of Durban, eThekwini Municipality, South Africa. The recovery of four DEC pathotypes including enterohaemorrhagic E.coli (EHEC) (15.08%), enteropathogenic E.coli (EPEC) (1.54%), enterotoxigenic E.coli (ETEC) (1.85%) and enteroaggregative E.coli (EAEC) (21.23%) suggest that its persistence in waste-dump soil has the ability to cause under five diarrhoea. Additionally, a significant relationship (P = 0.0011) between the pathotypes identified and location of the six settlements, implied that irrespective of where these children resided, they were at potential risk of exposure to EHEC, EPEC, ETEC and EAEC when they played among these waste dump sites. Therefore, it is imperative that local government authorities take a collective leading role in combating the spread of indiscriminate dumping to prevent waste-dump exposure, specifically as ecological reservoirs of DEC pathogens in urban informal settlements.
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