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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, October 2006, p. 3484-3492, Vol. 44, No. 10
0095-1137/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.00548-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Common Virulence Factors and Genetic Relationships between O18:K1:H7 Escherichia coli Isolates of Human and Avian Origin

INRA, Centre de Tours, UR1282, 37380 Nouzilly, France,¹ INRA, Unité d'Ecologie Microbienne des Insectes et Interactions Hôte-Pathogène, UMR1133, Université Montpellier II, 34095 Montpellier cedex 5, France,² UMR1225, INRA-ENVT, 23 chemin des Capelles, 31076 Toulouse, France,³ Université de Liège, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Département des Maladies Infectieuses et Parasitaires, Sart Tilman, 4000 Liège, Belgium,⁴ Laboratorio de Referencia de E. coli (LERC), Departamento de Microbioloxía e Parasitoloxía, Facultade de Veterinaria, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 22002 Lugo, Spain⁵

Received 14 March 2006/ Returned for modification 22 May 2006/ Accepted 10 July 2006

Extraintestinal pathogenic (ExPEC) Escherichia coli strains of serotype O18:K1:H7 are mainly responsible for neonatal meningitis and sepsis in humans and belong to a limited number of closely related clones. The same serotype is also frequently isolated from the extraintestinal lesions of colibacillosis in poultry, but it is not well known to what extent human and avian strains of this particular serotype are related. Twenty-two ExPEC isolates of human origin and 33 isolates of avian origin were compared on the basis of their virulence determinants, lethality for chicks, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns, and classification in the main phylogenetic groups. Both avian and human isolates were lethal for chicks and harbored similar virulence genotypes. A major virulence pattern, identified in 75% of the isolates, was characterized by the presence of F1 variant fimbriae; S fimbriae; IbeA; the aerobactin system; and genomic fragments A9, A12, D1, D7, D10, and D11 and by the absence of P fimbriae, F1C fimbriae, Afa adhesin, and CNF1. All but one of the avian and human isolates also belonged to major phylogenetic group B2. However, various subclonal populations could be distinguished by PFGE in relation to animal species and geographical origin. These results demonstrate that very closely related clones can be recovered from extraintestinal infections in humans and chickens and suggest that avian pathogenic E. coli isolates of serotype O18:K1:H7 are potential human pathogens.

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