Enterotoxigenic E. coli cause traveller's and infant diarrhoea via the production of enterotoxins. The heat stable form stimulates guanyl cyclase; the heat labile form closely resembles the cholera toxin and stimulates adenyl cyclase. Primarily they affect the small intestine, causing hyperaemia of the mucosa.
Food and water contaminated by human faeces are chiefly responsible.
Enterotoxigenic serotypes of E. coli include 0115, 0148 and 0153.
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