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Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) has been increasingly recognized as causing pediatric diarrhea in developing countries. In Egypt, the epidemiology of EAEC has not been well studied. A total of 200 E. coli strains from infants and children below 5 years of age with acute diarrhea and 100 age matched control strains were examined by biofilm production, clump formation and PCR for 2 plasmid borne genes (aat and aggR) for typical EAEC and one chromosomal gene (aaiA) for typical and atypical EAEC. The detection of EAEC was significantly associated with diarrhea. One or more of the loci were detected in 30 (15%) cases. The incidence of aat positive EAEC was significantly higher in diarrheal cases than in controls (12.5versus 0%, P=0.013), unlike aggR positive strains (5.5 versus 4%), suggesting a more important role of aat in pathogenesis of diarrhea. Phenotypic assays as biofilm production …