A study of enteric pathogens in stools of infants and children in an urban community

ABSTRACT

69 children of the urban community, Rangoon was surveyed for isolation of enteric pathogens 53 of which belonged to under 1 year and the rest 16 belonging to 1-2 years age. Stool samples of 3 infants revealed presence of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli 0119 B14, 1000 B4 and 0128 B12 respectively. The incidence of ascariasis in 1-2 year group was higher than the under 1 year group as shown in Table I. Eggs of H.na na was found in an infant and larva of Strongyloides stercoralis in one of the 1-2 year age group. Other enteric pathogens viz. Salmonella, Shigella and Vibrio species were not isolated. The egg count of the intestinal helminths done by Stolls method would enlighten us, as to the worm load and thus the intensity of parasitosis which will be useful in assessing the response to treatment.