Plasmid coding for drug resistance and production of heat-labile and heat-stable toxins harbored by an Escherichia coli strain of human origin.

In a study of enterotoxigenic strains of Escherichia coli isolated from children with diarrhea in São Paulo, Brazil, a new enterotoxin and antibiotic resistance plasmid that carries heat-labile toxin, heat-stable toxin, and drug resistance genes was found. This is the first such plasmid to be found in a human strain of E. coli. The plasmid is nonconjugative, has a molecular weight of at least 54 x 10(6), and is mobilized by the R plasmid present in the host strain.