Reassuringly low carriage of enteropathogens among healthy Swedish children in day care centres

•Studies on carriage are needed to understand the spread of disease in the community.•Stool samples from healthy children can be easily collected by using diapers.•Children at day care centres (DCCs) in Uppsala have a low carriage of enteropathogens.•DCCs in Uppsala do not seem to be an important reservoir for enteropathogens.

ObjectivesInfectious gastroenteritis is one of the most common diseases among children and has a considerable impact on health and socio-economy. Day care centres are high-risk environments for infections. The aim of this study was to investigate if asymptomatic preschool children constitute a reservoir for potential enteropathogens.Study designIn total, 438 individual diapers were collected from day care centres in Uppsala, Sweden, during spring and autumn, and molecular techniques were used to estimate the prevalence of asymptomatic carriage of multiple enteropathogens.MethodsFaecal samples were analysed with multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (xTAG® Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel; Luminex Corporation, Toronto, Canada) targeting 21 different pathogens. Samples with a median fluorescence intensity above threshold were re-analysed with a second PCR assay.ResultsSixteen of the 438 samples were positive for enteropathogens, 1.6% for enteric adenovirus, 0.7% for Campylobacter spp., and 0.7% for norovirus.ConclusionsPreschool children in Uppsala constitute a limited reservoir for potential enteropathogens.