Background and Aims Despite the fact that Shiga-like toxin E. coli has been identified as a major etiologic agent of children with diarrhea worldwide, few studies have been performed to evaluate the etiology of Shiga-like toxin-producing Escherichia coli (SLTEC) in children with diarrhea, in Iran. The aim of this study was to evaluate the etiology of Shiga-like toxin-producing Escherichia coli (SLTEC) in children with diarrhea, in Iran. Method A total of 300 stool specimens from children of 300 children with diarrhea were tested for the detection of E. coli, according to standard methods. Out of 300 specimens, 39 were identified as diarrheagenic E. coli, and subjected to multiplex polymerase chain reaction (MPCR) for detection of stx1/stx2, eae and ipaH genes. We designed a single multiplex polymerase chain reaction (MPCR) for the detection of target genes in diarrheagenic Escherichia coli. Results EPEC was the dominated strain (55.6%) among the tested isolates, followed by EHEC (25%) and EIEC (19.4%) strains. Conclusions Shiga-like toxin E. coli has been identified as a major etiologic agent of children with diarrhea in Iran. our method proved to be specific and rapid in detecting virulence genes from Shiga toxin-producing (stx1, stx2, and eae), enteropathogenic (eae), enteroinvasive (ipaH) Escherichia coli in stool samples, and able to simultaneously detect of diarrheagenic E. coli strains in a single reaction.

No abstract

medical or immunocompromising conditions. Clinical and epidemiological data were recorded and respiratory samples including nasopharyngeal aspirate or nasopharyngeal swabs were obtained from all children less than 14 years old with acute respiratory tract infections. HBoV was screened in all respiratory samples by real time PCR, in addition to 13 common respiratory viruses. During the study, HBoV was detected in respiratory samples from 25 (2%) of 1016 symptomatic patient. HBoV coexistence with other respiratory pathogens occurred in 72% (18/25) of respiratory samples from symptomatic patients. HBoV infections were detected in every month except June and July with peaks in the month of September, October, November, and December. The main diagnosis in 13 patients (52%) with HBoV was radiologically confirmed pneumonia. For the other 12 patients with HBoV infections the main diagnosis were gastroenteritis(4 cases), chest exacerbation (3 cases), upper respiratory tract infections (2 cases), persistent fever (1 case), seizure (1 case), otitis media (1 case). The main clinical signs and symptoms of HBoV positive patients included fever, cough tachypnea, dyspnea, crackles, wheezing, abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea. The present study suggest that HBoV may be a fairly common cause of pneumonia in high-risk children hospitalized with acute respiratory infections and associated with morbidity. However, further study is needed to clarify if HBoV plays a pathogenic role in community acquired pneumonia in high-risk children.

No abstract

No abstract