Fig. 2.

Generic E. coli MLVA and Shigella MLVA groups compared with duplex real-time PCR results. a) All Shigella spp. and EIEC isolates (n = 121) were included. E. coli MLVA groups I, II, and VI and Shigella MLVA groups A, B, E, and F were exclusively detected in isolates classified as Shigella (lacY–) by real-time PCR. On the other hand, E. coli MLVA groups III and V and Shigella MLVA group C were preferentially associated with strains classified as EIEC (lacY+) by the real-time PCR. b) Only EIEC ONT isolates (n = 47) were included. Interestingly, a) and b) showed comparable patterns, indicating that the duplex real-time PCR was suited to classify the phenotypically challenging EIEC ONT group