Growth of Escherichia coli in diarrhea in children during teething

During teething, children may experience symptoms such as diarrhea, various skin rashes, decreased or loss of appetite, salivation, sleep disturbances, and irritability. This can complicate differential diagnosis and lead to improper treatment of children in infectious disease hospitals under the diagnosis of "Escherichiosis". Objective: To determine the quantitative and qualitative composition of Escherichia coli in young children with diarrhea during teething.Methods. From 2021 to 2024, Escherichia coli isolated from feces in children aged 6 to 30 months were bacteriologically examined.Results. When studying the number of Escherichia coli isolated from the stool of children who showed signs of diarrhea during the period before teething, it was found that in 6 children their number varied from 10⁷ to 10⁸, in 5 children - from 1.1×10⁸ to 3.0×10⁸, in 7 children - 3.1×10⁸, in 4 children - from 5.1×10⁸ to 10⁹, and in 5 children - from 1.5×10⁹ to 2.0×10⁹. Hemolytic Escherichia coli were isolated in the indicated quantities. In 9 children, non-hemolytic E. coli were also isolated in amounts from 10⁷ to 10⁸, in 6 children - from 1.1×10⁸ to 2.0×10⁸, and in 4 children - from 2.1×10⁸ to 4.0×10⁸.In children with obvious symptoms of diarrhea, the average number of isolated hemolytic E. coli was 5.6×10⁸ CFU/g, which was 67.8% of all colonies examined, while the number of non-hemolytic Escherichia coli was 2.6×10⁷ CFU/g, which was 32.2% of all colonies examined. In 33.4% of children, hemolytic Escherichia coli were not isolated. In 66.6% of patients, the average number of isolated hemolytic Escherichia coli was 8.2×10⁶ CFU/g per 1 g of feces, which was 29.0±0.04% of all studied colonies.Conclusion. In children who had signs of diarrhea during the teething period, the number of Escherichia coli, especially hemolytic E.coli, increased significantly, in some cases up to two times compared to children whose teeth had already erupted (mainly due to hemolytic variants).Keywords: teething, diarrhea, Escherichia coli, escherichiosis, childhood diseases.