Abstract
A phenotypic variant of Escherichia coli serotype O157:H7 (G5101) was isolated from a patient with bloody diarrhea. Strain G5101 does not ferment sorbitol but is beta-D-glucuronidase and urease positive. Serotyping and colony hybridization using a serotype-specific DNA probe confirmed that the isolate was O157:H7. G5101 produces Shiga-like toxins I and II and contains an eae gene that is highly conserved in the O157:H7 serotype. This strain would have been missed by laboratories that screen for the sorbitol-negative, beta-D-glucuronidase-negative phenotype in isolating E. coli O157:H7 from clinical and food specimens.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (170.4 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Feng P. Identification of Escherichia coli serotype O157:H7 by DNA probe specific for an allele of uid A gene. Mol Cell Probes. 1993 Apr;7(2):151–154. doi: 10.1006/mcpr.1993.1021. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gunzer F., Böhm H., Rüssmann H., Bitzan M., Aleksic S., Karch H. Molecular detection of sorbitol-fermenting Escherichia coli O157 in patients with hemolytic-uremic syndrome. J Clin Microbiol. 1992 Jul;30(7):1807–1810. doi: 10.1128/jcm.30.7.1807-1810.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Jerse A. E., Yu J., Tall B. D., Kaper J. B. A genetic locus of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli necessary for the production of attaching and effacing lesions on tissue culture cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Oct;87(20):7839–7843. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.20.7839. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Regnery R., Tappero J. Unraveling mysteries associated with cat-scratch disease, bacillary angiomatosis, and related syndromes. Emerg Infect Dis. 1995 Jan-Mar;1(1):16–21. doi: 10.3201/eid0101.950103. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Riley L. W., Remis R. S., Helgerson S. D., McGee H. B., Wells J. G., Davis B. R., Hebert R. J., Olcott E. S., Johnson L. M., Hargrett N. T. Hemorrhagic colitis associated with a rare Escherichia coli serotype. N Engl J Med. 1983 Mar 24;308(12):681–685. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198303243081203. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Thompson J. S., Hodge D. S., Borczyk A. A. Rapid biochemical test to identify verocytotoxin-positive strains of Escherichia coli serotype O157. J Clin Microbiol. 1990 Oct;28(10):2165–2168. doi: 10.1128/jcm.28.10.2165-2168.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Whittam T. S., Wolfe M. L., Wachsmuth I. K., Orskov F., Orskov I., Wilson R. A. Clonal relationships among Escherichia coli strains that cause hemorrhagic colitis and infantile diarrhea. Infect Immun. 1993 May;61(5):1619–1629. doi: 10.1128/iai.61.5.1619-1629.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]