Enterotoxigenic E.coli in hospitalized diarrhea patients in Chiang Mai Thailand.

Over a period of 1 year, 151 stool samples from hospitalized diarrhea patients in Chiang Mai were tested for the presence of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). Of these samples 5 cases (2.6%) were positive for heatlabile toxin (LT), heat-stable toxin (ST) or both. Two of the 4 positive cases had mixed infections, one with Salmonella and one with Strongyloides. One patient had terminal cancer. Except for in this last case, the disease developed fairly mild. Because of low isolation rate from and relative mild disease it does not appear to be useful to test adults for ETEC on a routine basis in Chiang Mai.