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. 2023 Nov 17;11(11):2790.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms11112790.

Prevalence of Diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli among Children Aged between 0-36 Months in Peri-Urban Areas of Lusaka

Kapambwe Mwape  1   2   3 , Samuel Bosomprah  1   4 , Kennedy Chibesa  1   5 , Suwilanji Silwamba  1   6 , Charlie Chaluma Luchen  1   7   8 , Nsofwa Sukwa  1 , Cynthia Mubanga  1   9 , Bernard Phiri  1 , Mwelwa Chibuye  1   7   8 , Fraser Liswaniso  1 , Paul Somwe  1 , Obvious Chilyabanyama  1 , Caroline Cleopatra Chisenga  1 , Monde Muyoyeta  1 , Michelo Simuyandi  1 , Tobias George Barnard  2 , Roma Chilengi  1
Affiliations

Prevalence of Diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli among Children Aged between 0-36 Months in Peri-Urban Areas of Lusaka

Kapambwe Mwape et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

Diarrhoea is a major contributor to childhood morbidity and mortality in developing countries, with diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli being among the top aetiological agents. We sought to investigate the burden and describe the diarrhoeagenic E. coli pathotypes causing diarrhoea among children in peri-urban areas of Lusaka, Zambia. This was a facility-based surveillance study conducted over an 8-month period from 2020 to 2021. Stool samples were collected from children aged 0-3 years presenting with diarrhoea at five peri-urban health facilities in Lusaka. Stool samples were tested for diarrhoeagenic E. coli using the Novodiag bacterial GE+® panel, a platform utilising real-time PCR and microarray technology to detect bacterial pathogens. Of the 590 samples tested, diarrhoeagenic E. coli were detected in 471 (76.1%). The top three pathogens were enteropathogenic E. coli 45.4% (n = 268), enteroaggregative E. coli 39.5% (n = 233), and enterotoxigenic E. coli 29.7% (n = 176). Our results revealed that 50.1% of the diarrhoeagenic E. coli positive samples comprised multiple pathotypes of varying virulence gene combinations. Our study demonstrates a high prevalence of diarrhoeagenic E. coli in childhood diarrhoea and the early exposure (<12 months) of children to enteric pathogens. This calls for the early implementation of preventive interventions for paediatric diarrhoea.

Keywords: children under five years old; diarrhoea; diarrhoeagenic E. coli.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence of DEC pathotypes detected. EPEC—enteropathogenic E. coli; EAEC—enteroaggregative E. coli; ETEC—enterotoxigenic E. coli; EIEC—enteroinvasive E. coli; EHEC—enterohaemorrhagic E. coli.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence by number of pathotypes detected per sample. The figure illustrates the proportion of each pathotype in the different infection patterns based on the number of pathotypes detected in each sample. The blue bars represent the prevalence of all the pathotypes consolidated while the other bars each represent a single pathotype. The Y-axis shows the prevalence of the pathotypes while the X-axis shows the number of pathotypes detected in each sample.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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