All issues > Volume 26(10); 1983

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1983;26(10):949-958. Published online October 31, 1983.

Role of Enterotoxogenic E.Coli in Acute Diarrhea of Childhood in Korea.

Kwang Wook Ko¹, Jeong Kee Seo¹, Woo Hyun Chang², Moon Kyo Kim², Nam Ung Yang², Myoung Sik Choi²

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine，Seoul National University
²Department of Microbiology College of Medicine，Seoul National University

Abstract

To determine the role of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in diarrheal disease of non-hosp- italized children living in Korea, stool specimens were collected from 330 patients with dia- rrhea and 68 age and sex matched control. Sixty-eight healthy children and 330 diarrheal patients, who visited three private clinics and one municipal hospital in Inchon City, were tested to detect the production of Escherichia coli enterotoxin from July to October, 1982. Heat labile enterotoxin (LT) was assayed by Reverse-Passive Latex Agglutination method using Assay kit and heat stable enterotoxin (ST) was assayed by infant mouse assay method. Enterotoxin were found in 58(17.6%) of 330 patients with diarrhea and 7(10.3%) of 68 healthy children. From these 58 patients with enterotoxigenic diarrhea, E. coli which produce S.T. alone were isolated in 23 patients and E. coli which produce L.T. alone were isolated in 9 patients. In remaining 26 patients, both S.T and L.T were detected. Most of patients with, enterotoxigenic diarrhea were under the age of three. Fifty-eight patients with enterotoxigenic diarrhea showed mild clinical features; vomiting (13.8%), mild fever(24.1%), abdominal pain(36.2%), anorexia(20.7%), and URI like symptom (5%).

Keywords :Enterotoxigenic E; coli diarrhea; incidence; childhood. -