Comparative analyses of phenotypic and genotypic methods for detection of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli toxins and colonization factors.

ABSTRACT: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is one of the main causes of childhood diarrhea in developing countries and in travelers. However, this pathogen has often not been reported in surveys of diarrheal pathogens, due to lack of simple standardized methods to detect ETEC in many laboratories. ETEC expresses one or both of two different enterotoxin subtypes: heat-stable toxins, a heat-labile toxin (LT), and more than 22 different colonization factors (CFs) that mediate adherence to the intestinal cell wall. Here we compare established phenotypic and genotypic detection methods and newly developed PCR detection methods with respect to sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and ease of performance. The methods include GM1-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and dot blot techniqu

SUBMITTER: Sjoling A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2045327 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature