In vivo assessment of environmental E. coli isolates as potential vaccine candidate against shigellosis.

Bacterial diarrhea is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality of infants and young children in developing countries like Bangladesh. Enteropathogenic bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella and Shigella are the most common causative bacterial agents of water and foodborne intestinal infections. The primary attempt was to recover E. coli from water samples showing cross-reactivity with commercial typing Shigella-antisera. Study was conducted to identify biochemical profile and genotypic characteristics of the cross-reactive E. coli isolates and evaluate their potentiality as an effective probiotic candidate against shigellosis. Determination of cross-reactivity of the E. coli isolates with commercial antisera for all the four Shigella sero-groups were done in a previous project funded by Jashore University of Science and Technology.