Genetic profiling of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli strains in relation to clonality and clinical signs of infection.

ABSTRACT: Sixty-seven human strains of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) (from patients with more or less severe symptoms) were serogrouped and arranged according to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns. We used PCR to investigate the strains according to known or putative virulence factors, and associations with disease were studied. All EHEC strains with the same PFGE pattern belonged to the same serogroup. On the contrary, two serogroups (O157 and O8) included strains with different PFGE patterns. We found several different combinations of chromosomal and plasmid-borne determinants, encoding the putative virulence factors, among the strains. As judged from clinical symptoms, there was no marked difference in pathogenicity among the strains and their combinations of virulence t

SUBMITTER: Welinder-Olsson C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC120270 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature