Search for heat-labile enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in humans, livestock, food, and water in a community in the Philippines.

Environmental sources of heat-labile enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli are unknown. The feces of 1,086 inhabitants (approximately 5%) of a small town in the Philippines, 28 pigs, and 10 water buffalo were cultured for enteric bacterial pathogens. Twenty-seven persons harbored pathogenic bacteria: five individuals had enterotoxigenic E. coli, 11 Salmonella species, nine Vibrio parahaemolyticus, one Shigella boydii, and one nonagglutinable Vibrio. Enterotoxigenic E. coli were isolated from two of 28 pigs and from one of 10 water buffalo. Cultures of 26 pieces of beef, 25 pieces of pork, and 52 leafy vegetables obtained from a community market failed to grow enterotoxigenic E. coli. None of 47 samples of contaminated surface water contained this pathogen. Serotypes of human and animal strains of enterotoxigenic E. coli were different, although E. coli O78:H12 isolated from a pig has previously been incriminated in human diarrheal disease. In this limited survey of a Philippine community, enterotoxigenic E. coli were isolated from humans and livestock. The possibility that enterotoxigenic E. coli infections are zoonotic warrants further investigation.