J Bacteriol Virol.  2013 Mar;43(1):37-44. 10.4167/jbv.2013.43.1.37.

Epidemiological Relationship of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and Enteroaggregative E. coli Isolated from Patients with Diarrhea in Seoul

• Jin Y
• Seung H
• Oh Y
• Jung J
• Jeon S
• Lee J
• Kim C
• Choi S
• Chae Y

• KMID: 1782701
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4167/jbv.2013.43.1.37

Abstract

Of total 1,438 specimens of patients with diarrhea in Seoul, 2011, 217 samples (15%) were found pathogenic Escherichia coli that included 192 strains (89%) of enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) and enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC). The highest isolation rate for ETEC and EAEC was found in August and September. Sixty two pathogenic E. coli strains (34 ETEC and 28 EAEC strains) were selected from 175 strains (94 ETEC and 81 EAEC strains) isolated in August and September. Of 94 strains characterized for ETEC phenotype, 76 (81%) expressed heat-stable toxin (ST) only. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was carried out by using sixteen types of antibiotics. A high level of antimicrobial resistance to tetracycline (57%), ampicillin and ticarcillin (54%) was observed among EAEC isolates while the highest resistance rate of ETEC was found for nalidixic acid (47%), followed by tetracycline (32%). As to the antimicrobial susceptibility test, EAEC showed the complicated multi-drug resistant patterns in which the resistance was higher than ETEC. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was carried out to examine the genetic relatedness among ETEC and EAEC isolates. Except for 11 strains, 51 strains were divided by eight pulsotypes. In PFGE analysis, isolates from foodborne disease outbreaks in August and September 2011 showed close relation.

Keyword

Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC); Enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC); Antimicrobial resistance; PFGE

MeSH Terms

Ampicillin
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Diarrhea
Disease Outbreaks
Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli
Foodborne Diseases
Humans
Nalidixic Acid
Phenotype
Tetracycline
Ticarcillin
Ampicillin
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Nalidixic Acid
Tetracycline
Ticarcillin

Figure

• 

  Figure 1. Dendrogram showing the clustering of PFGE patterns for the 62 ETEC and EAEC isolates. A group indicates 81.5% similarity; B group indicates 82% similarity; C group indicates 80.3% similarity; D group indicates 84.7% similarity; E groups indicate 81.1% similarity; F groups indicate 82.4% similarity; G group indicates 84.3% similarity; H group indicates 87.2% similarity.

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