The Microbiology of Childhood Gastroenteritis: Aeromonas Species and Other Infective Agents

Abstract

A prospective, 12-month study of 975 non-Aboriginal children with diarrhea and age- and sex-matched children without diarrhea, in Perth, Western Australia, was designed to investigate the significance of enterotoxigenic Aeromonas species as a cause of diarrhea. Enterotoxigenic Aeromonas species were found in the fecal specimens of 10.8% of the patients with diarrhea but in only 0.7% of those without diarrhea. Most Aeromonas species were isolated during the summer. Other important bacterial pathogens included Campylobacter, Salmonella, Shigella, and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli; rotavirus infections appeared to be much less important in the Western Australian environment. Most of the patients were younger than two years of age and about one-quarter had mixed bacterial and/or viral intestinal infections. Enterotoxigenic Aeromonas species can be identified with 97% accuracy using a simple hemolysin assay which should be considered for use by routine diagnostic laboratories, particularly in children's hospitals.

Epidemiology and microbiology of diarrhoea in young Aboriginal children in the Kimberley region of Western Australia

“…Campylobacter species were cultured on Skirrow's medium which was incubated at 43 'C under reduced oxygen partial pressure; species were identified by their growth characteristics, appearance after staining, biochemical reactions and antimicrobial sensitivity [13]. Aeromonas species were isolated on blood agar/ampicillin plates [14]; colonies showing ,-haemolysis were tested for oxidase activity [15].…”

Mannose-resistant adhesion of motileAeromonasto INT407 cells and the differences among isolates from humans, food and water

“…Their roles in enteric infection in immunologically normal adults [1] and children [2] have been the subject of a number of studies. The illnesses reported range from mild to dysentery-like diarrhoea [3] and include travellers' diarrhoea [1,4,5].…”

“…In some well-controlled studies, Aeromonas spp. were isolated at significantly higher frequency from diarrhoeal stools than from normal ones [2,[6][7][8]; in other studies, the rates of isolation of Aeromonas spp. from the two groups were similar to one another [9][10][11].…”

Comparison of two methods for assessing the bacteriological condition of the water supply in slaughter houses

“…It recovers reliably all organisms that have been recommended in the past and more recently for including in markers which are normally used in monitoring water for safety (Habs and Langeloh, 1958;Kretzchmar, 1959;Lieb and Anschau, 1959;Bonde, 1966;Cabelli, 1977;Althaus et al, 1982;Mi~ller and Mossel, 1982;Burke et al, 1983;Grabow et al, 1983). Furthermore, the DHB method avoids the pitfalls inherent in testing for the taxonomically ill-defined and ecologically unresolved group of 'coliform' (coli-aerogenes) bacteria (Henriksen, 1955;Seligmann and Reitler, 1965;Mara, 1973;Leclerc et al, 1977;Lupo et al, 1977;Austin et al, 1981;Mi~ller and Mossel, 1982;Lechevallier et al, 1983;Leclerc et al, 1983;Burhngame et al, 1984).…”