Enterotoxigenic <i>Escherichia coli</i> with STh and STp Genotypes Is Associated with Diarrhea Both in Children in Areas of Endemicity and in Travelers

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is an important cause of diarrhea among children in developing countries and in travelers to areas of ETEC endemicity. ETEC strains isolated from humans may produce a heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) and two types of the heat-stable enterotoxin STa, called STh and STp, encoded by the estA gene. Two commonly used assay methods for the detection of STa, the infant mouse assay or different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, are unable to distinguish between the two subtypes of ST. Different genotypic methods, such as DNA probes or PCR assays, may, however, allow such discrimination. Using gene probes, it has recently been reported that ETEC strains producing STp as the only enterotoxin are not associated with diarrhea. In this study,…