Escherichia coli ehl1 gene-positive serotype O18ac:H31 associated with an outbreak of diarrhea in a neonatal nursery in Neuquen City, Argentina.

ABSTRACT: Between 9 October and 12 November 1996, an outbreak of bloody diarrhea occurred in the neonatal nursery ward of the Policlínico Neuquén, in Neuquén, a city in the southwestern region of Argentina. Seven patients of the intermediate care unit were affected. Isolates of Escherichia coli O18ac:H31 that were non-lactose and -sorbitol fermenting were recovered from outbreak cases. Although the strains were negative for a number of virulence factors typically found in diarrheagenic groups of E. coli, all isolates from the present neonatal outbreak possessed the enterohemolysin gene, ehl1. All isolates showed resistance to the antibiotics ampicillin and chloramphenicol. These isolates showed a low adherence property in HeLa cells without any recognizable pattern. In order to evaluate the outbreak

SUBMITTER: Chinen I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC140392 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature