High rate of fecal carriage of extended-spectrum-β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli in healthy children in Gipuzkoa, northern Spain.

The prevalence of extended-spectrum-β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBLPE) was studied in stool samples from 125 8- to 16-month-old healthy children. Twenty-four percent of them and 10.7% of the 318 fecal samples studied yielded extended-spectrum-β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli, with the types being SHV-12, CTX-M-1, CTX-M-14, and TEM-52, the most common types of β-lactamases. This high prevalence of ESBLPE in healthy people, which is to our knowledge the highest currently reported in Europe, may represent a risk for increased infections by these organisms in the future.