Escherichia coli O157 is an important serotype of enterohemorrhagic E. coli that causes hemorrhagic colitis worldwide. Outbreaks of E. coli O157 have been assocoated with contaminated food like meat, raw milk, and water, but recently vegetables and fruits have accounted for a growing number of recognized outbreaks. We isolated verotoxin producing E. coli O157 from the stool of a 3 year-old female with bloody diarrhea and abdominal pain. The child had been eating salad with vegetables and fruits frequently.
Abdominal Pain ; Child ; Colitis ; Diarrhea ; Disease Outbreaks ; Eating ; Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli ; Escherichia ; Escherichia coli ; Escherichia coli O157 ; Female ; Fruit ; Humans ; Meat ; Milk ; Shiga Toxins ; Vegetables

No abstract available.
Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli*

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli infection can cause hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome. Since 1994 we have carried out surveillance for this infection in the south of Choongnam Province, in Korea. We investigated the patients with diarrhea who had admitted in Soonchunhyang University Chunan Hospital(Total : 130, age; from infant to elderly), from May 1994 through February 1996. E. coli O157 : H7, O26 : H11, O128 : H2, O111 : H- serotype were assessed by the slide agglutination test. E. coli culture was positive in the 53(male 33, female 20) out of 130 patients with diarrhea. One case of E. coli O157 : H7 infection was identified. He was 30 days old infant lived in Dangjin rural area. He suffered from bloody diarrhea and anemia with acute renal failure, suggesting hemolytic uremic syndrome which is a well recognized complication of E. coli O157 : H7 infection. We have to aware of the possibility of outbreaks of E. coli O157 : H7 infection in this area.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Agglutination Tests ; Anemia ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Colitis ; Diarrhea ; Disease Outbreaks ; Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli ; Escherichia coli O157* ; Escherichia coli* ; Escherichia* ; Female ; Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome ; Humans ; Infant ; Korea* ; Shiga Toxins

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli serotype O157:H7 is a pathotype of diarrheagenic E. coli that produces one or more Shiga toxins, forms a characteristic histopathology described as attaching and effacing lesions, and possesses the large virulence plasmid pO157. The bacterium is recognized worldwide, especially in developed countries, as an emerging food-borne bacterial pathogen, which causes disease in humans and in some animals. Healthy cattle are the principal and natural reservoir of E. coli O157:H7, and most disease outbreaks are, therefore, due to consumption of fecally contaminated bovine foods or dairy products. In this review, we provide a general overview of E. coli O157:H7 infection, especially focusing on the bacterial characteristics rather than on the host responses during infection.
Animals ; Cattle ; Cattle Diseases/blood/epidemiology ; Developing Countries ; *Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli ; Escherichia coli Infections/blood/*epidemiology/veterinary ; *Escherichia coli O157/genetics/pathogenicity ; Feces/microbiology ; Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome/blood/epidemiology/veterinary ; Operon ; Shiga Toxins/analysis ; Shigella dysenteriae ; Virulence

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli ; Escherichia coli Infections ; epidemiology ; Germany ; epidemiology ; Humans

Escherichia (E.) coli serotype O157:H7 is a globally distributed human enteropathogen and is comprised of microorganisms with closely related genotypes. The main reservoir for this group is bovine bowels, and infection mainly occurs after ingestion of contaminated water and food. Virulence genetic markers of 28 O157:H7 strains were investigated and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE) was used to evaluate the clonal structure. O157:H7 strains from several countries were isolated from food, human and bovine feces. According to MLEE, O157:H7 strains clustered into two main clonal groups designated A and B. Subcluster A1 included 82% of the O157:H7 strains exhibiting identical MLEE pattern. Most enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) O157:H7 strains from Brazil and Argentina were in the same MLEE subgroup. Bovine and food strains carried virulence genes associated with EHEC pathogenicity in humans.
Animals ; Argentina/epidemiology ; Brazil/epidemiology ; Cattle ; Cattle Diseases/epidemiology/*microbiology ; Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli/genetics/*isolation & purification/pathogenicity ; Escherichia coli O157/*genetics/*isolation & purification/pathogenicity ; Food Microbiology ; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial/physiology ; Genetic Markers ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction/veterinary ; Shiga Toxin 1/genetics/metabolism ; Shiga Toxin 2/genetics/metabolism ; Virulence

No Abstract Available.
Anti-Infective Agents* ; Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli* ; Quinolones* ; Shiga Toxins*

Attaching and effacing Escherichia coli (AEEC) cause enteric infections in humans and animals. Attaching indicates the intimate attachment of bacteria to the enterocyte, and effacing relates to the localized effacement of brush border microvilli. Enteropathogenic (EPEC) and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) infections are characterized by the formation of attaching and effacing (AE) lesion on the intestinal epithelial cells. Therefore, they are often grouped together as AEEC. Development of multiplex PCR allowed us to type five of the most important genes implicated in the formation of the AE lesion. A total of 60 AEEC strains isolated from diarrheal patients were investigated by multiplex PCR for the presence of the insertion site of locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) and LEE-related (eae, tir, espA, espB, and espD) genes. Associating the results of LEE genes typing in the AEEC strains, three different pathotypes are determined: eae(gamma)-tir(gamma)-espA(gamma)-espB(gamma)-espD(gamma) (O157:H7), eae(beta)-tir(beta)-espA(beta)-espB(beta)-espD(beta) (O26:H11), and eae(alpha)-tir(alpha)-espA(alpha)-espB(alpha)-espD(alpha) (O55:H6). These results indicate that AEEC are a heterogenous groups of organisms.
Animals ; Bacteria ; Enterocytes* ; Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli* ; Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli* ; Epithelial Cells ; Escherichia coli ; Humans ; Microvilli ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction

BACKGROUND: Since 1982, many countries has reported outbreaks or sporadic cases caused by enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) serogroup strains, mainly E. coli O157:H7 type strain. However, systemic investigation about EHEC agents, including E. coli O157:H7, have not been done in Korea. Therefore, we investigated serogroup and verotoxin productivity of E. coli strains isolated from diarrheal patients and estimated risk of human infection in comparison with the EHEC strains isolated from cow, pig, and food material in Korea. METHODS: Diarrheal patient stool samples were collected and E. coli strains were isolated, according to biochemical characteristics. In order to isolate E. coli O157:H7, D-Sorbitol negative E. coli strains were selected. Serogrouping of the E. coli isolates was done by agglutination test. Verocytotoxin productivity was investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and reversed passive latex agglutination (RPLA). Human infection risk was estimated in comparison with EHEC strains isolated from cow, pig and food materials in Korea. RESULTS: Twenty-five E. coli strains were isolated from the diarrheal patients who were suspected to be infected with EHEC. However, none of these E. coli strains produced verocytotoxin. Out of 25 E. coli isolates, 16 serogroups of E. coli O1, O6, O8, O15, O20, O25, O26, O28, O29, O44, O86a, O119, O126, O128, O152 and 157:H- were found. In each of the E. coli O157:H- and O25 serogrorps 3 strains were found. CONCLUSION: None of 25 E. coli isolated from diarrheal patients who were suspected of EHEC infection produced verocytotoxin producing E. coli have been reported recently in Korea.
Agglutination ; Agglutination Tests ; Disease Outbreaks ; Efficiency* ; Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli ; Escherichia coli* ; Escherichia* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Latex ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Shiga Toxins

BACKGROUND: Non-O157 human isolates among enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) serogroup have been reported with increasing frequency in recent years; the serotype O26 is the most common among the non-O157 isolates. We performed serotyping of E. coli isolates with O157, O26, and O111 antisera at Ulsan University Hospital and identified 27 isolates of O26. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of E. coli O26 isolates. METHODS: During the 24-month period from January 2002 to December 2003, E. coli isolates were serotyped when requested by the physician because of bloody diarrhea or when blood was noted in the stool specimen at the laboratory. The isolates were identified biochemically by Vitek 1 (BioMerieux Vitek Inc., Mo., USA) and serotyped using diagnostic antisera of O157, O26, and O111 (NIH, Korea). When a positive agglutination reaction was shown, the patient's was reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: Of 4,921 isolates of E. coli during the 2-year period, 200 isolates were serotyped and 27 (13.5%) were identified as serotype O26. These were isolated from stool (13 isolates), urine (9), pus (1), blood (1), and bile (1). Among the 13 patients whose stool specimens grew E. coli O26, 12 had watery diarrhea and 7 bloody diarrhea; two patients had thrombocytopenia and purpura simultaneously. Two patients with watey diarrhea, two with bloody diarrhea, and one with TTP were among the 7 patients with E. coli O26 in the urine. Finally, one patient each with blood isolate and bile isolate of E. coli O26 both had acute gastroenteritis. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the patients infected with E. coli O26 had clinical manifestations consistent with EHEC infections. E. coli isolates from patients with boody diarrhea should be serotyped with O157 and O26 antisera.
Agglutination ; Bile ; Diarrhea ; Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli ; Escherichia coli* ; Escherichia* ; Gastroenteritis ; Humans ; Immune Sera ; Purpura ; Retrospective Studies ; Serotyping ; Suppuration ; Thrombocytopenia ; Ulsan