INTRODUCTION Escherichia coli causes gastroenteritis in humans and animals. CASE PRESENTATION In this study, both Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) and atypical enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) strains were identified in a stool sample from a healthy child, and they were serotyped as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) ONT : H19 and atypical enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) O37 : H45. CON...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) produces Shiga-like toxins (SLT), potent protein synthesis inhibitors. To further dissect the role of SLT-II in the course of disease, we have constructed E. coli TUV86-2, an isogenic SLT-II-negative mutant of EHEC strain 86-24. The slt-ii gene was inactivated by suicide vector mutagenesis. We also isolated derivatives of strain 86-24 that were cured of...

In recent studies, strains of non-dysenteriae 1 Shigella (NDS) expressing Shiga toxin have been reported. In this study, we report a novel stx1a-converting bacteriophage of Shigella sonnei associated with travel to Mexico. Phylogenetic comparison between this and other stx-converting phages suggests that toxigenic NDS strains have arisen through separate horizontal transfer events from toxigeni...

Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) strains were isolated from 7.4% of 1,440 fecal and farm environmental samples. Shiga toxin gene and STEC prevalences were significantly associated with animal production type and season. A range of serogroups were identified. Nine percent of isolates possessed all three principal virulence markers: stx(2), eae, and ehx.

Transcription of the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) genes in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is regulated by the LEE-encoded Ler and GrlR/GrlA proteins as well as the non-LEE-encoded regulator QseA. This work demonstrates that GrlR/GrlA activate LEE2 transcription in a Ler-independent fashion, whereas transcription of grlRA is activated by QseA in both Ler-dependent and -indepen...

In the summer of 2009, an outbreak of verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli O157 (VTEC O157) was identified in visitors to a large petting farm in South East England. The peak attack rate was 6/1000 visitors, and highest in those aged <2 years (16/1000). We conducted a case-control study with associated microbiological investigations, on human, animal and environmental samples. We identified 93 ca...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) strains require intimin to induce attaching and effacing (A/E) lesions in newborn piglets. Infection of newborn calves with intimin-positive or intimin-negative EHEC O157:H7 demonstrated that intimin is needed for colonization, A/E lesions, and disease in cattle. These results suggest that experiments to determine if intimin-based vaccines reduce O157:H...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) with serotype O157:H7 is a major foodborne pathogen. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of EHEC O157:H7 strain MC2 isolated from cattle in France. The assembly contains 5,400,376 bp that encoded 5,914 predicted genes (5,805 protein-encoding genes and 109 RNA genes).

Subtilase cytotoxin (SubAB) from verotoxin (VT)-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) strains was first described in the 98NK2 strain and has been associated with human disease. However, SubAB has recently been found in two VT-negative E. coli strains (ED 591 and ED 32). SubAB is encoded by two closely linked, cotranscribed genes (subA and subB). In this study, we investigated the presence of subAB...

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) bacteria are zoonotic pathogens. We report here the high-quality complete genome sequences of three STEC O177:H- (fliCH25) strains, SMN152SH1, SMN013SH2, and SMN197SH3. The assembled genomes consisted of one optical map-verified circular chromosome for each strain, plus two plasmids for SMN013SH2 and three plasmids for SMN152SH1 and SMN197SH3, respe...