Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and other gram-negative bacteria of infantile diarrhea: surface antigens, hemagglutinins, colonization factor antigen, and loss of enterotoxigenicity.

Heat-labile enterotoxin (LT)-producing Escherichia coli and other enteric bacteria isolated from diarrheal Ethiopian children were studied for O and K antigen, production of heat-stable enterotoxin (ST), stability of LT production, properties of mannose-resistant hemagglutination (MRHA) (indicative of adhesive properties), and colonization factor antigen (CFA). Of the E. coli strains, 33% possessed O6, O8, or O78; 93% of these were stable producers of LT, and 86% produced both Lt and ST. O78 strains possessed CFA/I, whereas O6 and O8 strains possessed CFA/II. The E. coli with O antigens other than O6, O8, or O78, as well as the non-E. coli bacteria tended to lose their ability to produce LT; only 16% produced ST, and they only occasionally showed MRHA properties. The former group of E. coli strains might be considered as true enteropathogenic bacteria (enterovirulent E. coli), which may be identified serologically, while the pathogenic significance of the diversified latter group remains less certain.