[Biological characteristics of enteropathogenic and enterotoxigenic Escherichia].

A total of 315 strains of enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) and enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), isolated from adult diarrhea patients, were identified. Shigella-like EPEC (33 strains) were represented by 13 serovars; of these, 10 were invasive. ETEC (222 strains amenable to typing) comprised 37 serovars (24 known and 13 previously unknown). Of 194 ETEC strains studied for the production of both forms of enterotoxin, 151 strains (78%) produced thermolabile and thermostable enterotoxins, while 43 strains (22%) produced only thermostable enterotoxin. The biological properties of the cultures were shown to be stable, and interrelation was shown to exist between serovar, enteropathogenicity and enterotoxigenicity, which suggested the possibility of using the classical bacteriological method for the diagnosis of diseases caused by EPEC and ETEC.