OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of nine patients with enteritis caused by verocytotoxin-producing E. coli O157. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Clinical data of patients was collected retrospectively, the isolated strains were tested for verotoxin production (VT) using Vero cell culture line, and presence of VT1 and VT2 gene sequences was detected using amplification techniques (PCR), biotype was also determined using twelve biochemical tests, and genomic macrorestriction profile (PFGE). RESULTS: The patients' age ranged from 11 months to 70 years. The mean duration of diarrhea was 4.7 days. All patients but one had abdominal cramps, seven of nine reported hemorrhagic stools and six had fever. Three patients were affected of haematologycal neoplasia and two of them developed hemolytic-uremic syndrome as a complication. All strains produced VT2 and two of them also produced VT1. Epidemiological link between patients has not been established. Three different biotypes had been distinguished between the nine isolated strains. All but two had different macrorestriction profiles. DISCUSSION: The results obtained showed that clinical manifestations are rather inespecific, including fever (6/9 patients) and there is high association of severe complications. The heterogeneity in PFGE results obtained confirms that the cases are not related.
OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of nine patients with enteritis caused by verocytotoxin-producing E. coli O157. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Clinical data of patients was collected retrospectively, the isolated strains were tested for verotoxin production (VT) using Vero cell culture line, and presence of VT1 and VT2 gene sequences was detected using amplification techniques (PCR), biotype was also determined using twelve biochemical tests, and genomic macrorestriction profile (PFGE). RESULTS: The patients' age ranged from 11 months to 70 years. The mean duration of diarrhea was 4.7 days. All patients but one had abdominal cramps, seven of nine reported hemorrhagic stools and six had fever. Three patients were affected of haematologycal neoplasia and two of them developed hemolytic-uremic syndrome as a complication. All strains produced VT2 and two of them also produced VT1. Epidemiological link between patients has not been established. Three different biotypes had been distinguished between the nine isolated strains. All but two had different macrorestriction profiles. DISCUSSION: The results obtained showed that clinical manifestations are rather inespecific, including fever (6/9 patients) and there is high association of severe complications. The heterogeneity in PFGE results obtained confirms that the cases are not related.
Authors: Stephen B Freedman; Jianling Xie; Madisen S Neufeld; William L Hamilton; Lisa Hartling; Phillip I Tarr; Alberto Nettel-Aguirre; Anderson Chuck; Bonita Lee; David Johnson; Gillian Currie; James Talbot; Jason Jiang; Jim Dickinson; Jim Kellner; Judy MacDonald; Larry Svenson; Linda Chui; Marie Louie; Martin Lavoie; Mohamed Eltorki; Otto Vanderkooi; Raymond Tellier; Samina Ali; Steven Drews; Tim Graham; Xiao-Li Pang Journal: Clin Infect Dis Date: 2016-02-24 Impact factor: 9.079