High Frequency of Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli in HIV-Infected Patients and Patients with Thalassemia in Kerman, Iran.

This study was conducted on patients with thalassemia and HIV-infected patients to determine the frequency of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli in Kerman, Iran. We analyzed 68 and 49 E coli isolates isolated from healthy fecal samples of patients with thalassemia and HIV-infected patients, respectively. The E coli isolates were studied using a multiplex polymerase chain reaction to identify the enterotoxigenic E coli (ETEC), enterohemorrhagic E coli (EHEC), and enteropathogenic E coli (EPEC) groups. Statistical analysis was carried out to determine the correlation of diarrheagenic E coli between HIV-infected patients and patients with thalassemia using Stata 11.2 software. The frequency of having at least 1 diarrheagenic E coli was more common in patients with thalassemia (67.64%) than in HIV-infected patients (57.14%; P = .25), including ETEC (67.64% versus 57.14%), EHEC (33.82% versus 26.53%), and EPEC (19.11% versus 16.32%). The results of this study indicate that ETEC, EHEC, and EPEC pathotypes are widespread among diarrheagenic E coli isolates in patients with thalassemia and HIV-infected patients.