The influence of consumption of a lactic acid-fermented cereal gruel togwa with pH < or = 4 on the presence of faecal enteric bacteria such as campylobacter, enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC:O157), enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), salmonella and shigella was evaluated. Under 5 years old healthy children listed in an ascending order of age were alternatively assigned and given either a lactic-acid fermented cereal gruel togwa (test diet) or an unfermented cereal gruel uji (control diet) once a day for 13 consecutive days. The presence of the enteropathogens was examined in rectal swabs collected from the children at baseline (before feeding session started), on days 7 and 13, and additionally 14 days (follow-up day) after the feeding session had stopped. The swabs were cultured on to different optimal media for respective enteropathogen and confirmed by standard microbiological and serological methods. Campylobacter spp. dominated among the enteropathogens (62% out of total) followed by Salmonella spp., ETEC and Shigella spp. Children with isolated enteropathogens in the togwa group was significantly reduced (P < 0.001) from 27.6% at baseline to 7.8, 8.2 and 12.7% on days 7, 13 and follow-up day, respectively. The effect was more pronounced in those children taking togwa > 6 times during the study period. In the control group, there was a slight decrease from 16.7% at baseline to 11.4% on day 7 and 8.1% on day 13. On the follow-up day, enteropathogens were found in 22.6% of the children, which was significantly higher than in those children taking togwa > 6 times. We conclude, that regular consumption of togwa with pH < or = 4, once a day, three times a week may help to control intestinal colonization with potential diarrhoea-causing pathogens in young children.
PIP: Campylobacter jejuni/coli, enteropathogenic E. coli, enterotoxigenic E. coli, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., and rotavirus are consistently implicated with diarrhea in children under age 5 years in developing countries. The influence of consumption of a lactic acid-fermented cereal gruel (togwa) with pH of less than or equal to 4 upon the presence of such fecal enteric bacteria was evaluated. 151 healthy children aged 6-60 months in Majohe village listed in an ascending order of age were alternatively assigned and given either togwa or an unfermented cereal gruel (uji) once a day for 13 consecutive days. The presence of enteropathogens was then examined in rectal swabs collected from the children at baseline before the feeding session started, on days 7 and 13, and 14 days later after the feeding session had stopped. 62% of the enteropathogens identified were of campylobacter spp., followed by Salmonella and Shigella spp. The proportion of children with isolated enteropathogens in the togwa group was significantly reduced from 27.6% at baseline to 7.8%, 8.2%, and 12.7% on days 7, 13, and the follow-up day, respectively. The effect was more pronounced among children taking togwa more than 6 times/day during the study period. In the control group, there was a slight decrease from 16.7% at baseline to 11.4% on day 7 and 8.1% on day 13. On the follow-up day, enteropathogens were found in 22.6% of the children, which was significantly higher than in those children taking togwa more than 6 times. The regular consumption of togwa with pH of less than or equal to 4, once per day, 3 times per week may help to control intestinal colonization with potential diarrhea-causing pathogens in young children.