[Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli associated with acute diarrhea in children of Cumaná, Venezuela].

To establish the prevalence of strains of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) associated to acute diarrhea in children of Cumaná, Venezuela, stool samples were taken from 200 children aged < 5 years with acute diarrheal disease, and from 30 healthy children used as control. Isolation and bacterial identification was performed by conventional biochemical tests and stool cultures. The presence of pathogenic genes of each type of DEC was investigated by the technique of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), determining the genes eae and bfp (EPEC), st and lt (ETEC), ipaH and virF (EIEC) Stx1/Stx2 (STEC), aafII (EAEC) and daaE (ADEC). From 169 E. coli, isolates we determined by PCR 10.65% positive for EPEC (1.18% "typical", 9.47% "atypical"); ETEC (5.91%); EAEC (1.78 %), EIEC (0.59%). There were no statistically significant differences regarding the frequency of each "pathotype" in relation to age, but it did occur when related to the sex (p<0.05). The most relevant clinical features were: fever, vomiting and abdominal pain and the greatest percentage of children affected were of the working and marginal classes. These results shown that the strains of DEC are important etiological agents in acute infectious diarrhea in children of Cumaná.