Ishimaru K, Sasaki M, Narimatsu H, Arimizu Y, Gotoh Y, Nakamura K, Hayashi T, Ogura Y.
Escherichia coli O8:H8 Carrying a Novel Variant of the Heat-Labile Enterotoxin LT2 Gene Caused Outbreaks of Diarrhea.
Open Forum Infect Dis 2020;
7:ofaa021. [PMID:
32016129 PMCID:
PMC6988837 DOI:
10.1093/ofid/ofaa021]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2019] [Accepted: 01/11/2020] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
No outbreaks caused by Escherichia coli–producing heat-labile enterotoxin LT2 have been reported to date. Here, we revealed that the E. coli O8:H8 strains isolated from patients in 2 independent diarrhea outbreaks were negative for any known virulence determinants in routine microbiological tests, were very closely related, and carried a prophage-encoded gene for a novel LT2 variant (LT2d) and the genes for colonization factor antigen III. We also showed that LT2d has a cytotonic activity similar to LT1. These data indicate the importance of E. coli strains producing LT2d as a human pathogen.
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