Virulence profiling and quantification of verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli O145:H28 and O26:H11 isolated during an ice cream-related hemolytic uremic syndrome outbreak.
Foodborne Pathog Dis, 2011/3;8(3):421-6.
Buvens G[1], Possé B, De Schrijver K, De Zutter L, Lauwers S, Piérard D
Affiliations
PMID: 21166561DOI: 10.1089/fpd.2010.0693
Impact factor: 3.788
Abstract
In September-October 2007, a mixed-serotype outbreak of verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) O145:H28 and O26:H11 occurred in the province of Antwerp, Belgium. Five girls aged between 2 and 11 years developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, and seven other coexposed persons with bloody diarrhea were identified. Laboratory confirmation of O145:H28 infection was obtained for three hemolytic uremic syndrome patients, one of whom was coinfected with O26:H11. The epidemiological and laboratory investigations revealed ice cream as the most likely source of the outbreak. The ice cream was produced at a local dairy farm using pasteurized milk. VTEC of both serotypes with indistinguishable pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns were isolated from patients, ice cream, and environmental samples. Quantitative analysis of the ice cream indicated concentrations of 2.4 and 0.03 CFU/g for VTEC O145 and O26, respectively. Virulence typing revealed that the repertoire of virulence genes carried by the O145:H28 outbreak strain was comparable to that of O157 VTEC and more exhaustive as compared to the O26:H11 outbreak strain and nonrelated clinical strains belonging to these serotypes. Taken together, these data suggest that O145:H28 played the most important role in this outbreak.
MeSH terms
Agriculture; Animals; Belgium; Cattle; Child; Child, Preschool; Diarrhea; Disease Outbreaks; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; Escherichia coli Infections; Escherichia coli O157; Female; Food Contamination; Foodborne Diseases; Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome; Humans; Ice Cream; Serotyping; Shiga Toxins; Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli; Virulence
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