Incidence of various enteropathogenic bacteria was examined from diarrheal faecal samples that were collected from the patients of Kobe City General Hospital and some station hospitals (23, 862), and from overseas travelers (2, 855) over a period of decade (1989-1999) in Kobe. A total of 1, 580 strains were isolated from domestic and 331 strains from overseas travelers. The results are as follows.
1) Thirteen kinds of enteropathogenic bacteria were isolated from domestic diarrheal cases (6.6%). Salmonella was the most predominant bacteria followed by Campylobacter, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and Shigella.
2) Eleven kinds of enteropathogenic bacteria were isolated from overseas diarrheal travelers (11.6%). The most frequently isolated species was Salmonella, followed by Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Shigella and Plesiomonas shigelloides.
3) Of Salmonella strains isolated from domestic and overseas diarrheal cases, serovar Enteritidis was the most predominant. Other frequent serovars in both cases were Typhimurium, Tennessee, Hadar, Infantis, Blockley and Montevideo.
4) Antibiotics resistant rate of the isolated Salmonella strains was 42.6% for domestic samples and 29.3% for overseas diarrheal cases. In domestic cases, Enteritidis was resistance to streptomycin only and the multiple antibiotic resistance was observed in Typhimurium serovars. In overseas samples, the multiple antibiotic resistance was seen in a few Typhimurium, Anatum and Blockley strains.
5) Among Shigella, S. sonnei was isolated from both domestic and overseas cases. The frequency of acquiring infection was the highest in India, followed by Indonesia, Thailand and Nepal.
6) With reference to the incidence of the members of the genus Vibrio, Aeromonas and Plesiomonas, V. parahaemolyticus were abundant from domestic samples where as V. parahaemolyticus, P. shigelloides, Vibrio cholerae non-O1 and Vibrio cholerae O1 were isolated more frequently from overseas samples. The frequency of acquiring infection was the highest in Thailand, followed by Indonesia and India.