Bacillus cereuscontaining nheA, hblCand cytkenterotoxin genes is associated with acute childhood gastroenteritis in Nigeria.

Bacillus cereusis rarely implicated when diarrheal cases in children are diagnosed in developing countries due to the lack of molecular methods to identify its enterotoxigenic genes. We report that out of 62 enterobacteria isolated from 70 stool samples collected from children hospitalized at the Mile 4 Hospital, Ebonyi State, Nigeria, 24 isolates were identified as B. cereusbased on 16SrRNA gene sequence. The enterotoxins genes nheAand cytK2were detected in 23 out of the 24 isolates, while hblCwas detected in 19 isolates. B. cereusmay be responsible for greater number of yearly incidences of acute childhood gastroenteritis in Nigeria.