BACTERIOLOGICAL PROFILE OF STOOL SAMPLES IN HOSPITALISED PATIENTS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO DIARRHOEAGENIC E. COLI

E. coli are bacteria that normally live in the intestine of humans and animals. In this study we examined the bacteriological profile in stool samples from patients suffering from diarrhea and studied the prevalence, serotypes and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of Diarrhoeagenic E. coli (DEC) in cases of diarrhea. We examined 227 stool samples, out of which 100, i.e. 45.3% were reported as Diarrhoeagenic E. coli (DEC) as all these samples indicated bacterial infection on microscopy and no other diarrhoeagenic pathogen was isolated from them. Slide agglutination was done for all these strains using O157 antisera and they were sent for serotyping to CRI, Kasauli. We found that approximately 52% of these patients presented with diarrhea, 31% with gastroenteritis and 17% with ulcerative colitis. The other major diarrhoeagenic pathogen isolated from stool samples after E. coli was Vibrio cholerae (5.2%). DEC isolates showed highest susceptibility to Amikacin (98%) and least to Augmentin (12.6%). Majority of DEC strains were found to be Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) i.e. 41%, followed by Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), i.e 26% and only 4% were Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC).Our study emphasizes that strains of E.coli have been shown to cause diarrhea by several different pathogenic mechanisms and DEC remains an important cause of diarrhea, particularly in developing countries.