0 1988 The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland The role of diarrhoeagenic Escherichia co/i in acute diarrhoea1 diseases in Bandar-Abbas, Iran

Summary. The prevalence of different types of diarrhoea-producing Escherichia coli was measured in 273 patients attending 12 out-patient clinics in Bandar-Abbas, State of Hormozgan, Iran, during March 1984. Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) belonging to 12 different serogroups, of which 0128 and 0126 were the most common, were found in almost 31 % of the patients. Enterotoxigenic strains of E. coli (ETEC) were the next most frequent group (21.9%); among these, 36 (60%) strains produced heat-stable enterotoxin (ST), 14 (23.3%) strains produced both heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) and ST, and 10 (16.7%) strains produced LT only. The same pattern of toxigenicity was observed among the EPEC isolates. Ten of the 12 serogroups encountered in this study contained toxin producers, amongst which strains producing ST were dominant. Enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC) strains were not isolated. These findings suggest that enterotoxin-producing E. coli may be an important cause of diarrhoea in this part of Iran