Molecular characteristics of eae-positive clinical Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in Sweden

• Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) can cause a wide range of symptoms from asymptomatic carriage, mild diarrhea to bloody diarrhea (BD) and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Intimin, encoded by the eae gene, also plays a critical role in STEC pathogenesis. Herein, we investigated the prevalence and genetic diversity of eae among clinical STEC isolates from patients with diarrhea, BD, HUS as well as from asymptomatic STEC-positive individuals in Sweden with whole-genome sequencing. We found that 173 out of 239 (72.4%) of clinical STEC strains were eae positive. Six eae subtypes (epsilon 1, gamma 1, beta 3, theta, zeta and rho) were identified eae and its subtype gamma 1 were significantly overrepresented in O157:H7 strains isolated from BD and HUS patients. epsilon 1 was associated with O121:H19 and O103:H2 strains, and beta 3 to O26:H11 strains. The combination of eae subtype gamma 1 and stx subtype (stx (2) or stx (1)+stx (2)) is more likely to cause severe disease, suggesting the possibility of using eae genotypes in risk assessment of STEC infection. In summary, this study demonstrated a high prevalence of eae in clinical STEC strains and considerable genetic diversity of eae in STEC strains in Sweden from 1994 through 2018, and revealed association between eae subtypes and disease severity.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Mikrobiologi inom det medicinska området (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Microbiology in the medical area (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Immunologi inom det medicinska området (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Immunology in the medical area (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Infektionsmedicin (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Infectious Medicine (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli

intimin

eae gene

gene

diversity

hemolytic uremic syndrome

clinical significance

hemolytic-uremic syndrome

genetic diversity

intestinal-mucosa

intimin

genes

strains

subtypes

germany

Immunology

Microbiology

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli; intimin; eae gene; gene diversity; hemolytic uremic syndrome; clinical significance

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)