The influence of consumption of a lactic acid-fermented cereal
gruel togwa with pH[les ]4 on the
presence of faecal enteric bacteria such as campylobacter, enterohaemorrhagic
Escherichia coli
(EHEC[ratio ]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[les ]4, once a day, three times a week may help
to control intestinal
colonization with potential diarrhoea-causing pathogens in young children.