Analysis of the F Antigen-Specific papA Alleles of Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli Using a Novel Multiplex PCR-Based Assay

Volume 68, no. 3, p. 1587–1599, 2000. Page 1589, Table 1, column 3, line 14 from bottom: “F14” should read “F13.”

Line 15 from bottom: “F13” should read “F14.”

Page 1594, Fig. 4, lines 24, 37, 46, 48, 49, 51, 54, and 73: Strains 2H6, 2H12, U8, 2H11, 2P1, 2H7, 2H5, and 2U5, respectively, should be deleted. We recently discovered through amplification fingerprinting that these eight putative urosepsis isolates that were included in our study of papA alleles probably do not represent the actual strains that under the same names were previously tested for O:K:H serotype and carboxylesterase B electrophoretic type. These eight strains are of questionable authenticity. Since there is no ready way to determine whether the previous tested versions or the current versions of these strains represent the authentic clinical isolates, it appears advisable to exclude these strains from future analyses and to disregard results previously obtained for them. Although exclusion of these strains from the published study eliminates several instances of what had appeared to represent probable horizontal transfer of papA alleles, this does not substantively alter the conclusions of the study.