Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of illnesses and death among children in
developing countries, where an estimated 1.3 billion episodes and 4 to 10 million deaths
occur each year in children below 5 years of age. The common pathogens of diarrhea are
diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC), Group A rotavirus, Shigella spp, Salmonella spp,
Campylobacter, and Vibrio cholerae. Microbiological insights including phenotypic and
genotypic characterisation are valuable approaches with application in management and
prevention of diarrheal outbreaks by E. coli.
In the present study, the Random Amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting
technique allowed genetic diversity assessment of 25 E. coli isolates. Six out of 20
arbitrary primers namely, OPAE 4, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 18 produced DNA fingerprinting
patterns providing the discriminatory power and the display of the potential
epidemiological and diagnostic markers. A highly significant finding from the DNA
fingerprinting is the display of a predominant band at a size of 308 bp when arbitrar
