The role in sporadic enteritis of facultatively enteropathogenic Escherichia coli serogroups.

During a two-year period, 2411 faecal specimens and 514 throat swabs were cultured from 1674 persons, mainly infants and children. Of 31 Escherichia coli serogroups considered to represent facultatively enteropathogenic agents, the following were encountered: O4, O18a,b, O18a,c, O19, O20, O25, O28a,b, O32, O51, O53, O75, O78, O79, O105, O112a,c, O114, O115, O117, O129, O143, O145, O148. There was no significant difference in the incidence of the organisms and their serogroup distribution between patients with enteritis, patients with extraintestinal diseases and healthy individuals. A rise of antibody titre in some of the patients indicated an association with enteritis in case of serogropus O4, O18a,c, O19, O25, O75, O78 and O117. It has been assumed that the presence in faeces of a facultatively pathogenic E. coli serogroup does not necessarily prove its aetiological relationship to the disease.