EnterotoxigenicEscherichia coli— An Emerging Pathogen

Abstract

The past eight years have witnessed the emergence of a new era in the understanding of diarrheal diseases. The characterization of the biochemical lesion induced by the protein enterotoxin of Vibrio cholerae makes cholera probably the best understood, at the molecular level, of all infectious diseases. Benign-appearing but enterotoxin-producing Escherichia coli have been recognized as important worldwide etiologic agents in diarrheal illness of children and adults,¹ and more recently reovirus-like agents were found to account for a major portion of diarrheal illness in early childhood.² Whereas 10 years ago recognizable pathogens could be identified in only 25 per cent of . . .