Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo (Feb 2001)

Etiology of acute diarrhea among children in Ribeirão Preto-SP, Brazil

  • Marta Inês Cazentini MEDEIROS,
  • Suzel Nogueira NEME,
  • Paulo da SILVA,
  • Divani Maria CAPUANO,
  • Maria Clarice ERRERA,
  • Sueli Aparecida FERNANDES,
  • Glória Reginado VALLE,
  • Fernando Antonio de AVILA

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 43, no. 1
pp. 21 – 24

Abstract

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To study the main enteropathogens causing diarrhea in the region of Ribeirão Preto regarding serogroups and serotypes, the feces of 1836 children under 10 years old, from both sexes, attack of acute gastroenteritis, were analysed during a period of 4 years in Adolfo Lutz Institute - Ribeirão Preto, SP. The pathogens identified by standard methods were the following: Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Campylobacter spp., Yersinia spp., and Cryptosporidium spp. Positive samples were 22.8% (419) with 1.7% association of pathogens. Larger isolates were mainly from children 0 to 11 months old. Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) was most frequent (8.7%) with predominance of serogroup O119 (40.2%), followed by Shigella (6.2%), 63.6% of which S. sonnei.

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