Enterotoxin Detection by PCR in Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolated from Diarrheal Cases among Children in Kirkuk City - Iraq

Abstract

The presence of genes encoding the heat stable (ST) and heat labile (LT) enterotoxins were detected in Klebsiella spp. using the PCR method with pairs of specific primers designed for the sta, stb, and lth genes described for diarrheagenic Escherichia coli. It was found that the plasmid DNA of the 8 (40%) of the 20 Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates isolated from diarrhea cases in children contained the enterotoxin-encoding genes (sta, stb, lth), sta gene was the most frequently in the strains 7 isolates with (35%), stb genes 2 isolates with (10%) and lth 1 isolates with (5%). Of which (1) K. pneumoniae isolate had plasmid DNA included all three genes and 12 did not have any of the genes. None of the strains of K. oxytoca, K. terrigena and K. ornithinolytica, isolated from children with diarrhea, had genes encoding the tested enterotoxins.