Population shift in drug resistant and sensitive Escherichia coli during antibiotic treatment of children with diarrhea.

Changes in composition of Escherichia coli were followed during antibiotic therapy of nin children with acute diarrhea. In five cases enteropathogenic serotypes of E. coli were multiple-drug resistant, and in four other this feature characterized nonpathogenic E. coli strains. The results point to the importance of choice of the drugs effective not only against pathogenic serotypes, but also against nonpathogenic ones, and uselessness and even harmfulness of chemotherapy "in blindly".