Prevalence of Escherichia coli Pathotypes among Children with Diarrhoea in Zaria, Nigeria
A. Sani *
Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
J. A. Onaolapo
Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
Y. K. E. Ibrahim
Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
H. W. Idris
Department of Paediatrics, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika-Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
J. C. Igwe
Department of Medical Biotechnology, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Abuja, Nigeria.
A. Nworie
Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Diarrhoea is one of the foremost public health problems worldwide especially among Children under five years in developing countries. Only few studies have investigated the epidemiology and virulence of Escherichia coli pathotypes in South-Eastern and South-Western Nigeria leaving the Northern part of the country unstudied. In this study, a total of 100 isolates of E. coli (45%) were obtained from the stool of 222 diarrhoea patients who were children below five (5) years attending Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika, and Institute of Child Health, Banzazzau; an annex of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika-Zaria, Nigeria. The isolation and biochemical identification of the E. coli isolates were performed using standard microbiological procedures. A multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was used to differentiate the five (5) major diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli pathotypes (EHEC, ETEC, EPEC, EIEC and EAEC) in one reaction condition, by using different diarrhoeagenic E. coli primers for different virulent genes found in E. coli. From the result obtained, only one (1) percent of the isolates was found to harbor the virulence gene out of the 100 E. coli isolated from the diarrhoea stools of children employed in this study.
Keywords: Enteroaggregative E. coli, Escherichia coli, diarrhoeagenic E. coli, multiplex polymerase chain reaction, prevalence