HEp-2-adherent Escherichia coli strains associated with acute infantile diarrhea, Sao Paulo, Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Scaletsky, Isabel Cristina Affonso [UNIFESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2002
• Outros Autores: Fabbricotti, Sandra Hilde [UNIFESP], Silva, Sueli OC, Morais, Mauro Batista de [UNIFESP], Fagundes Neto, Ulysses [UNIFESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNIFESP
• Texto Completo: https://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid0808.010492; http://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/43529

In this paired case-control study of infants with diarrhea in Sao Paulo, we examined the association between HEp-2-adherent Escherichia coli strains and diarrhea. We tested isolates from stool specimens of infants with diarrhea and matched controls in an HEp-2 cell adherence assay; we then hybridized isolates with DNA probes and identified enteropathogenic E coli (EPEC), enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), and diffusely adherent E coli (DAEC). From 100 patient-control pairs, we isolated 78 HEp-2-adherent strains; of these, 61 strains were single pathogens identified in stools of infants with diarrhea. While typical EPEC was significantly associated with diarrhea (p<0.001), EAEC was more frequently associated with diarrhea in clinical cases (20%) compared with healthy controls (3%) (p<0.001). Atypical EPEC, showing a localized adherence-like pattern, was also more common in patients than controls (p>0.1). DAEC was isolated with equal frequency from patients and controls (p>0.1).