[Use of stationary-growth broth cultures for obtaining Escherichia enterotoxins. II. Study of Escherichia preparations isolated from diarrhea patients].

The preparation, simple in manufacture and consisting of the supernatant fluid (SF) of 48-hour cultures grown in flasks with Hottinger's broth without shaking, was shown to be suitable for the detection of enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) in diarrhea patients. SF of the cultures of 1206 E. coli strains isolated from 809 adults, together with control preparations, were studied by means of anal test in suckling mice, used to detect thermostable enterotoxin (TSE), and the paw edema test, used to detect thermolabile enterotoxin (TLE). These SF contained highly active TSE and having specific action. The use of SF ensured the high frequency of ETEC detection in patients with different intestinal diseases (in 262 out of 430 patients), placed in the same hospital. The specificity of these results and the relation of the isolated ETEC to the diseases diagnosed in the patients were confirmed by the fact that the frequency of ETEC detection was significantly less in healthy persons (in 22 out of 242 subjects).