Serological characterization of Escherichia coli in strains of human origin

Abstract

E. coli is a very versatile bacterium, it is a pathogen that causes diarrhea, and a basic characteristic of this type of pathogen is the presence of the factors that allow it to persist in the external environment. Since E. coli is an inhabitant of the intestine of mammals, this bacterium has acquired mechanisms to live in both environments: outside and inside a host. The main objective of the study was to describe the different E. coli serotypes in strains from a previous study that came from children under 3 years of age, suffering from diarrhea. 55 different serotypes were described in 86 strains of E. coli from stools of children under 3 years of age, that were documented as cases of diarrhea. This is the first study to describe such varied serotypes of E. coli of human origin. The serotypes found are very consistent with the joint studies carried out on environmental strains of E. coli of water and food origin. In addition to contributing to the knowledge about this pathogen, the importance of this information is the fact of knowing which serotypes could be causing infantile diarrhea.