<i>KLEBSIELLA PNEUMONIAE</i> – CAUSATIVE AGENT OF ENTEROCOLITIS.

Gastrointestinal diseases have one of the highest incidence rates worldwide. Klebsiella spp., which is a part of the large family Enterobacterales, isolated from fecal samples is considered as a part of the normal intestinal flora, even when it presents as a monoculture. The transmission of virulent plasmids from E. coli strains to Klebsiella spp., raises the question whether those bacteria can be an etiological factor for severe diarrhoea. By using PCR methods, the lth gene which is coding heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) was presented in the plasmids of Klebsiella spp. strains, and its expression was assessed.by measuring the cytopathic effect induced by the LT toxin.