The aetiologic agents of bacterial diarrhoea in the children of the former East Central State of Nigeria

Abstract

A total of 1015 single stool specimens were collected from under 5-year-old children suffering from diarrhoea, who were seen as out-patients or admitted into some of the hospitals in the former East Central State of Nigeria. These stools were investigated to determine the bacterial aetiology of their diseases. During the same period, 401 single stool specimens were collected from children under 5 years old, who were seen as out-patients or admitted into these hospitals with diagnosis other than diarrhoea, and also investigated for the presence of these bacteria. From the diarrhoea patients, enteropathogenic E. coli were detected in 12.0% (122/1015) of the children; Salmonella sp. in 3.1% (31/1015), Shigella sp. in 2.1% (21/1015), Campylobacter jejuni in 2.5% (25/1015), Y ersinia enterocolitica in 0.4% (4/1015), Vibrio parahaemolyticus in 1.0% (10/1015) and Vibrio cholerae in 0.0% (0/1015). Thus, aetiologic agents were identified in 21.0% (213/1015) of all the diarrhoea cases enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and Campylobacter jejuni were detected in 2.7% and 1.2% respectively of the control stools and swabs. All the Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolates were Kanagawa positive.