[Escherichia coli in diarrheal disease in young children]

The authors describe a lower incidence of enteropathogenetic serogroups of Escherichia coli (EPEC) in 1981-1987. Of 85 EPEC strains tested for the presence of factors of virulence (fimbrim, enterotoxins, haemolysins, colicins) and factors of virulence against six antimicrobial substances (tetracycline, streptomycin, chloramphenicol, kanamycin, ampicillin, sulfamethoxidine) only three strains did not possess any of the mentioned factors. The authors draw attention to other pathogenetically important groups of E. coli in the aetiology of diarrhoea in young children.