Atypical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (aEPEC) in children under five years old with diarrhea in Quito (Ecuador)

• Francisco X. Mora ^[1] ; Rolando X. Avilés-Reyes ^[2] ; Laura Guerrero-Latorre ^[1] ; Esteban Fernández-Moreira ^[1]
  1. [1] Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de las Américas, Quito, Ecuador.
  2. [2] Pharmaceutical Science Division, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
• Localización: International microbiology: official journal of the Spanish Society for Microbiology, ISSN 1139-6709, Vol. 19, Nº. 3, 2016, págs. 157-160
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) remain one the most important pathogens infecting children and they are one of the main causes of persistent diarrhea worldwide. In this study, we have isolated EPEC from 94 stool samples of children under five years old with diarrheal illness in the area of Quito (Ecuador), and we have determined the occurrence of the two subtypes of EPEC, typical EPEC (tEPEC) and atypical (aEPEC), by PCR amplification of the genes eae (attaching and effacing) and bfp (bundle- forming pilus). Typical EPEC is positive for eae and bfp genes while aEPEC is positive only for eae. Our results suggest that aEPEC is the most prevalent subtype in Quito (89.36 %), while subtype tEPEC is less prevalent (10.64 %). [Int Microbiol 19(3):157-160 (2016)]Keywords: Escherichia coli · atypical EPEC · genes eae and bfp · diarrhea in children · Quito (Ecuador)