Multiplicity of serogroups and adhesins in enteropathogenic and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli isolated from acute diarrhea in Senegal.

Escherichia coli strains were isolated from 228 children with diarrhea in Senegal from 1982 to 1984. Among these E. coli involved in cases of diarrhea, we found that 20.3% were enteropathogenic E. coli. Only 3.9% of the strains adhered to the brush borders of human intestinal enterocytes, and they belonged to different serotypes. All these adhesion-positive strains possessed genes encoding for the heat-stable enterotoxin, but their adhesive factors were different regarding serology with anti-colonization factor sera, hemagglutination patterns, electron microscopy structures, or major surface protein subunits.