Abstract

One hundred stool samples were collected from children and pupils in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. These were examined for the presence of enteric bacteria associated with diarrhea. Seventy of the samples were collected from apparently healthy pupils in some public primary schools in Akure, while thirty samples were collected from children in the Children’s Ward of the Ondo State Specialist Hospital, Akure. All the samples were pre-enriched for Salmonella and Shigella in selenite–F broth and also streaked on MacConkey and Deoxychocolate citrate agar plates. The following bacterial were isolated; Shigella dysenteriae, Salmonella enteritidis, Yersina enterocolitica ,Klebsiella pneumoniae, Providencia sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris. S. dysenteriae was found to be most frequent in children aged six to twenty-four months and one to twelve years. The carrier rate of S. dysentriaeamong males was very high compared to the females and there was high rate of bacteria isolates among the children of poor socio-economic status, poor sanitation and poorly breast-fed children.

Key words: Diarrhoea, deoxychocolate citrate, enteric, transmission.