Distribution of Pathogenic Escherichia coli among Children with Severe Diarrhea in Al-Najaf Al- Ashraf City, Iraq

Diarrhea is considered an abnormal fecal discharge characterized by a frequent andor fluid stool. E. Coli is the most important bacterial cause of diarrhea in children, its remain harmlessly confined to the intestinal lumen. However, in the debilitated or immunosuppressed host, or when gastrointestinal barriers are violated, even the normal nonpathogenic strains of E. coli can cause infection. This study aimed to investigate the distribution of pathogenic E. coli among children suffering from severe diarrhea by detection of some their virulence genes. A total of 204 stool samples were collected from children with severe diarrhea under 5 years whom admitted to AL-Zahraa and Al-Hakeem hospital during a period from 3/9/2016 to 30/11/2016. All samples were cultured on Red and Green chrom agar for isolation of pathogenic E. coli. PCR technique has been carried out for detection ofeaeA, stx1, stx2 vtx1, vtx2 and Pcvd432 in 50 isolates that selective randomly. One hundred and seventy six isolates were belonging to pathogenic E. coli. The results of the amplification of 50 DNA samples showed that 8 (16 %) isolates were possessed eaeA gene while 1 (2 %) and 6 (12 %) isolates were carried stx1 and stx2 gene respectively whereas 7 (14 %) and 1 (2 %) isolates were possess pcvd432 and vtx2 respectively. diarrhea and bloody diarrhea were widely distributed in children in Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf city and mainly associated with presence of Atypical E. coli, Shiga-Like Toxin E. coli and Vero-Like Toxin E. coli.