Prevalence of Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli in Children under 5 Years with Diarrhoea in Yola

Diarrhoeal diseases constitute one of the most important causes of illness and death all over the world. In Nigeria, the epidemiology of diarrhoeagenic bacteria and the virulence of the various E. coli pathotypes have not been well studied. This study aimed to survey the prevalence of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli from children less than 5 years with diarrhoea in Yola metropolis in Adamawa State. A total of 200 stool samples were collected from children attending Health Facilities in Yola from May – December 2014. The samples collected comprised of 150 from patients with diarrhoea and 50 from patients without diarrhoea as control subjects. The samples were screened and examined for the prevalence of some organisms that could cause diarrhoea. The study shows that the prevalence of diarrhoea caused by bacteria is 21% and implicated E. coli with the highest prevalence of 10.5% followed by Salmonella species 5%, Shigella species4%, and Vibrio cholera 1.5%. Most of these pathogens were isolated in female 11% as compared to males 10%, but the difference was not statistically significant. The isolated E. coli were found to be resistant to nitrofurantoin, ceftriaxone, gentamicin, augmentin, chloramphenicol, and ampicillin. E. coli strains were characterised by serotyping and genotyping to detect virulence genes (eaeA and bfpA). Only one of the isolates tested positive for eae A gene. These research findings show that, though there are a number of causative bacterial agents of diarrhoeal diseases. E. coli remains one of the primary cause’s. Salmonella and Shigella were found important bacterial pathogens among paediatric patient in the selected health facilities in Yola. Improving the sanitary awareness through primary health education, careful surveillance, monitoring incidence and spread of diarrhoeal diseases, may help to reduce the disease burden in children.