ISOLATION OF ENTEROTOXIGENIC ESCHERICHIA-COLI FROM BRITISH TROOPS IN SAUDI-ARABIA

Specimens from 181 patients with diarrhoea were examined by a Military General Hospital in a 3-month period during deployment of troops to S audi Arabia in 1990/1. DNA probes for heat labile (LT) and heat stable (ST) enterotoxin genes identified enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (E TEC) in 47 of the specimens (26%) and 49 ETEC strains were isolated, T he majority (55%) belonged to a novel ETEC serotype having the O-antig en 159 and a flagellar antigen designated as a provisional new type. T hey produced ST and the coli surface associated antigen (CS)6. Strains of serotype O8:H16 represented 22% of the ETEC examined, They produce d ST, LT and CS3 together with either CS1 or CS2. The remaining ETEC b elonged to seven O:H serotypes. Overall, ST was the only enterotoxin g ene identified in 73% of the ETEC and 67% of the strains expressed CS6 in the absence of other colonization antigens, Resistance to three or more antibiotics was observed in 53% of the ETEC, including most of t he O159 strains.