Molecular Detection of Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli from Children with Acute Diarrhea in Tertiary Care Hospitals of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Objective: Multiplex PCR assay was used for diagnosis of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) in stool samples of children (under 5 years) with acute diarrhea. ？ Methods: Samples were collected from January 2011 to December 2011, from Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Dhaka Shishu Hospital. Multiplex PCR with five specific primer pairs to detect enteropathogenic E. coli ( eae , bfp ), enterotoxigenic E. coli ( lt , st ) and enteroaggregative E. coli ( aat ) were used. However, enteroinvasive E. coli , enterohemorrhagic E. coli and diffusely adhererent E. coli were not sought. Result: In total, 135 (67.5%) E. coli were isolated from 200 stool samples. The prevalence of DEC was 68 (34%). Among DEC, most frequently isolated pathotype was EPEC 40 (58.82%), followed by ETEC 24 (35.29%) and EAggEC 18 (26.47%). Among the EPEC, 5 (12.5%) were typical EPEC. Among the 68 DEC positive cases, 22 samples contained more than one pathogenic gene in various combinations. Among the combination of DEC, EPEC+ETEC combination was 6 (27.27%) followed by ETEC+EAggEC 4 (18.18%), EPEC+EAggEC and ETEC+EPEC+EAggEC were both in 3 (13.6%). Conclusion: This study shows that DEC is a common cause of childhood diarrhea in Dhaka city of Bangladesh. By using multiplex PCR assay, DEC can be diagnosed in one PCR reaction that makes a conclusive diagnosis of diarrhea. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v5i2.8576 Asian Journal of Medical Science, Volume-5(2) 2014: 59-66