Peter EcheverriaUdom LeksomboonWanpen ChaicumpaJitvimol SeriwatanaChalard TirapatBernard RoweArmed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, ThailandBangkok Children's HospitalMahidol UniversityCentral Public Health Laboratory2018-10-122018-10-121984-01-14The Lancet. Vol.323, No.8368 (1984), 63-66014067362-s2.0-0021324525https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/30666The DNA hybridisation technique to detect genes coding for Escherichia coli enterotoxin was used to identify enterotoxigenic E coli (ETEC) in homes of children with diarrhoea in Thailand. ETEC was found in 30 (14%) of 221 children with diarrhoea and in 9% (8/88) of their household contacts, 8% (8/101) of their neighbours, and 2% (32/1379) of inhabitants of 382 homes not associated with ETEC infections. ETEC was found significantly more often in water and food and on mothers' hands in homes of children with ETEC-associated diarrhoea and of their neighbours than in homes of children without ETEC infections (8/360 vs 3/2290; p<0·001). ETEC was identified in 80% (71/89) of specimens that hybridised with the enterotoxin gene probes by testing E coli isolated from the same specimen in the Y-1 adrenal and suckling-mouse assays. The DNA hybridisation assay to detect genes coding for E coli enterotoxin is an effective method of identifying ETEC in a large number of human and environmental specimens and will be a valuable tool to define further the epidemiology of this enteric pathogen. © 1984.Mahidol UniversityMedicineArticleSCOPUS10.1016/S0140-6736(84)90001-1