RESUMO
PIP: This study was carried out at the Coast General Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya, during the dry month of March, 1984. Stool specimens were collected from 81 infants and children aged 0-36 months and with diarrhea of less than 7 days' duration. 35 age-matched children, who visited the hospitals with complaints other than gastrointestinal, served as controls. None of the children had received previous antibiotic therapy. Stools were checked for enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). E. coli isolates were assayed for labile toxin (LT) and stable toxin (ST) production by the Biken test and the suckling mouse assay, respectively. 19 ETEC were isolated from children with diarrhea, constituting an isolation rate of 23.5%. No ETEC were isolated from the controls. ST producers predominated (94.7%). Results indicate that the rates of ETEC isolation increase with age. In the majority of cases (16/19) ETEC caused diarrhea which was watery, with the number of motions ranging from 3 to 10 times. Fever was present in 9 patients. Mucus and blood were observed in very few cases. Vomiting was frequent (10/19) but abdominal pain was less common (5/10).^ieng
