Escherichia coli was isolated in 382 (94 per cent) of 406 children from 0 to 3 years of age who had been hospitalized for diarrhoea at the Hospital Municipal Salles Neto, Rio de Janeiro. Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli strains were isolated in 67 samples (18 per cent), distributed among the serogroups that were tested as follows: 0111 (33 per cent); 0125 (19 per cent); 0126, 0127, and 0142 (9 per cent); 0128 and 0119 (8 per cent); 055 (5 per cent); 0114 (2 per cent). No strains of EPEC belonging to serogroups 086, 0126, and 0158 were found. Among the samples in which EPEC strains were isolated, 15.0 per cent were children living in dwellings which had piped systems of water supply and drain, whereas with regard to those living in houses without such facilities, this percentage raised to 24 per cent. Similar results were found when the availability of water supply of drainage were taken separately.

Enteropathogens were investigated in 406 children aged 0-3 years with diarrhoea attending the Salles Neto Municipal Hospital. Enteric bacterial pathogens were isolated from 49 per cent of the children. Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) (20.9 per cent), enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) (16.5 per cent), rotavirus (11.6 per cent), and Campylobacter (9.9 per cent) were the most common agents. Among clinical features, vomiting and fever were significantly associated with Rotavirus isolation (50.0 per cent), respiratory infection with Adenovirus (14.3 per cent), bloody diarrhoea with Campylobacter (12.5 per cent), and dehydration with EPEC (71.6 per cent).

The occurrence of MNM was higher for indigenous and black than for white women.