OBJECTIVETo type and group the Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains isolated recent years in China to understand the epidemiological features caused by the pathogen.

METHODSPulsed field gel electrophoresis of large restriction fragments of bacterial chromosomal DNA was used.

RESULTSThe 51 isolates of E. coli O157:H7 collected in recent years in China could be divided into 8 Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) types based on the size and number of restriction fragments and patterns, that were digested by XbaI. Strains isolated from Ningxia province showed only two types- PFGE1 and PFGE2. Strains isolated in Xuzhou of Jiangsu province had 6 PFGE types. Isolates identified between 1986 - 1988 belonged to PFGE7. Strains isolated from patients in 1999 - 2000 were PFGE5 and PFGE3. Strains isolated from stool samples of domestic animal, food and vegetable were PFGE3 - 6, of which the predominant type was PFGE5. All of the 5 strains isolated from patients with diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) belonged to PFGE type 5, which was the dominant type of the isolates from stool samples of domestic animal and samples of food and vegetable contaminated.

CONCLUSIONData suggested that the cluster patients with diarrhea and HUS might have been related to the pathogens from domestic animas and contaminated food or vegetables. The distribution of PFGE types also varied in different provinces of China.