Characterization of atypical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli strains harboring the astA gene that were associated with a waterborne outbreak of diarrhea in Japan.

ABSTRACT: The virulence traits of the Escherichia coli strain associated with a waterborne diarrhea outbreak were examined. Forty-one of 75 students (ages 12 to 15) in Akita Prefecture, Japan, showed clinical symptoms. Seven E. coli Ouk:K-:H45 isolates were isolated from the patients as the causative agent of this outbreak. One isolate (EC-3605) showed the presence of E. coli attaching-and-effacing (eaeA) and enteroaggregative E. coli heat-stable enterotoxin-1 (astA) genes and the absence of Shiga toxin (stx1 and stx2) genes. A polymorphic enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) adherence factor plasmid was detected in EC-3605 with a major structural gene deletion and a regulatory gene frameshift mutation, revealing that EC-3605 represents an atypical EPEC strain harboring the astA gene. The role that atypi

SUBMITTER: Yatsuyanagi J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC154716 | biostudies-literature | 2003 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature