Distribution of Enterotoxigenic E. coli and Enteroinvasive E. Coli Among Children with Severe Diarrhea in AL Najaf AL Ashraf / Iraq

Abstract

Diarrhea is the second most important disease that causes death in children under 5 years old. This research aimed to investigate the prevalence of Enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC) and Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) associated with diarrhea among children under 5 years old. One hundred stool samples have been collected from children under 5 years old suffering from acute diarrhea. All samples are cultured on MacConkey agar and Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) to detect Diarrheagenic E. coli (DEE). DNA extraction was carried out, and PCR technique. It was used for amplification of the stp gene for the detection of ETEC and the ipaH gene for the detection of EIEC. The results showed a wide distribution of DEC (45%) among males and females, where a high percentage of infection occurred among males (60%) in Compression with females (40%). The Agarose gel electrophoresis results showed that 33% of isolates possessed ipaH, which revealed that these isolates belonged to EIEC. In comparison, 22% of isolates possessed the stp gene, which revealed that these isolates were belong to EHEC. In conclusion, diarrhea may be associated with EIEC and EHEC in addition to EPEC. Keywords: Enterotoxigenic E. coli, Enteroinvasive E. coli, Children with Severe Diarrhea, polymerase chain reaction PCR