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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