High-pathogenicity island of Yersinia spp. in Escherichia coli strains isolated from diarrhea patients in China

• Published in: Journal of clinical microbiology Vol. 38; no. 12; pp. 4672 - 4675
• Main Authors: XU, Jian-Guo, BOKUN CHENG, XUANQIN WEN, SHUYU CUI, CHANGYUN YE
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for Microbiology 01.12.2000
• Series: Note
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial diseases of the digestive system and abdomen; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; Chromosomes, Bacterial; Diarrhea - microbiology; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli - genetics; Escherichia coli - pathogenicity; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infectious diseases; Medical sciences; Microbiology; Middle Aged; pathogenicity islands; Pathogenicity, virulence, toxins, bacteriocins, pyrogens, host-bacteria relations, miscellaneous strains; Yersinia - genetics; Yersinia - pathogenicity; Asia; China; China, People's Rep; Human; Colibacillosis; Escherichia coli; Diarrhea; Pathogenicity island; Genetic determinism; Infection; Pathogenicity; Symptomatology; Bacteriosis; Digestive diseases; Bacteria; Intestinal disease; Enterobacteriaceae
• ISSN: 0095-1137; 1098-660X
• DOI: 10.1128/jcm.38.12.4672-4675.2000

The high-pathogenicity island (HPI) of Yersinia has been observed in 93% of 60 enteroadhesive Escherichia coli strains and 80% of E. coli strains isolated from blood samples. In the present study we investigated 671 fecal samples from patients with diarrhea in Shandong Province, China, and isolated HPI-harboring E. coli from 6. 26% of the samples. The isolation rates for patients with diarrhea in three age groups, 10 to 20, 30 to 40, and 50 to 60 years, were 6. 70, 12.35, and 10.81%, respectively. Therefore, HPI-harboring E. coli is the third most frequently isolated enteric pathogen from patients with diarrhea. Vomiting and abdominal pain were recorded for 33.33 and 66.67% of the patients, respectively. Stools with blood were observed for 9.52% of the patients. Twenty-four of 42 (57%) patients experienced a temperature over 37.4 degrees C. These observations indicate that HPI-harboring E. coli is one of the major causes of diarrheal disease in China and that the clinical symptoms caused by HPI-harboring E. coli differ from those caused by enteroadhesive E. coli.