In 2011, a Shiga toxin (Stx) type 2a-producing enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) strain of serotype O104:H4 caused a large lethal outbreak in Northern Europe. Until recently, the pathogenic mechanisms explaining the high virulence of the strain have remained unclear. Our laboratories have shown that EAEC genes encoded on the pAA virulence plasmid, particularly the AggR-regulated AAF/I fimbriae, ...

Type strains of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli EAEC (17-2, serotype O3:H2; JM 221, serotype O92:H33), isolates from an adult and a child with diarrhoea and an asymptomatic colonised child were used to orally infect adult rabbits. The experimental animals were followed up and sacrificed at defined time periods. Colonisation of both small and large intestine was seen with all strains and isol...

BACKGROUND Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) is a cause of epidemic and sporadic diarrhea, yet its role as an enteric pathogen is not fully understood. METHODS We characterized 121 EAEC strains isolated in 2008 as part of a case-control study of moderate to severe acute diarrhea among children 0-59 months of age in Bamako, Mali. We applied multiplex polymerase chain reaction and compa...

AggR is a transcriptional regulator of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) and has been proposed as the defining factor for typical EAEC strains. Expression of multiple putative virulence factors, including the aggregative adherence fimbriae (AAF), dispersin, the dispersin translocator Aat, and the Aai type VI secretion system, have been found to be regulated by AggR. Here, we confirm the...

Abstract Background The diagnostics of travellers’ diarrhoea (TD) has been revolutionised by multiplex qPCR assays. While mostly bacterial aetiology, viruses and parasites account for the disease among 10–20% travellers. Despite this, prospective studies applying assays remain scarce that cover not only bacteria, such as various diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli (DEC), but also viral parasitic pa...