Bacteriological investigations of infantile gastroenteritis in Ife, Nigeria.

This study examined rectal swabs of 84 infants aged between 4 weeks and 5 years old, who reported with gastroenteritis at the out-patient department of Ife State Hospital. Patients consisted of 47 males and 37 females. Bacterial pathogens [enteropathogenic E. coli (10 strains), Salmonella sp. (1 strain) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (2 strains)] were isolated from 13 patients. A single pathogen was recovered from each patient. Almost all (12) pathogens were isolated from patients under 2 years old, who comprised 63 (75%) of the total sample. The highest isolation rate (22%) was in the age group 18-23 months, which consisted of 37 (44%) of the study population.