HAFNIA-ALVEI IN STOOL SPECIMENS FROM PATIENTS WITH DIARRHEA AND HEALTHY CONTROLS

We found an epidemiological association of Hafnia alvei with diarrhea, because the organism was isolated from 12 of 77 (16%) adult Finnish t ourists to Morocco who developed diarrhea and from 0 of 321 tourists w ithout diarrhea (P < 0.001). From another group of 112 adult Finnish d iarrheal patients, only 2 (2%) yielded H. alvei. In contrast to some B angladeshi strains of H. alvei, the Finnish strains were negative for the attachment effacement lesion by an in vitro fluorescent actin stai ning test and also did not show homology to the Escherichia coli attac hment-effacement gene (eaeA) by PCR. These results suggest that a mech anism or mechanisms other than the attachment-effacement lesion may al so be involved in the association of H. alvei with diarrhea.