Tamrat AbebeTizazu Zenebe2025-08-122025-08-122024-06-13https://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/6474Many children fail to reach their development milestones due to several infection-related health problems in developing countries. One major infection-related health problem in under-five children (UFC) is diarrhea with the highest mortality rate in sub- Saharan Africa including Ethiopia. Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) is the major causes of diarrhea in UFC. Emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among DEC and other diarrheagenic bacterial strains including extended-spectrum ß-lactamase (ESBL) and carbapenemase producing E. coli strains are among the major threats to health globally. DEC pathotypes have emerged due to genomic plasticity of the E. coli and are associated with different life-threatening clinical diseases. The epidemiology of DEC and their AMR profile and the genetic background of DEC are not well characterized in Ethiopia. The present study aimed to determine molecular epidemiology and AMR profile of DEC and to provide some genetic insight of DEC pathotypes isolated from UFC from Central Ethiopiaen-USMolecular Characterization and Antimicrobial ResistanceThesis