Virulence factors of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.
Further evidence for the role of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli as an etiologic agent of diarrhea is presented. A retrospective study of 71 cases of diarrhea in Mexican children demonstrated that greater than 40% of them harbored E. coli that produced heat-labile and/or heat-stable enterotoxin. The antigenic surface-associated colonization factor of E. coli strain H-10407 has been further characterized: this pilus-like antigen is produced under conditions of growth that repress the production of common pili of E. coli. The E. coli H-10407-type colonization factor pilus has been identified as one of the antigens possessed by a strain of E. coli that produced only heat-stable enterotoxin and that was responsible for an outbreak of pediatric diarrhea.
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D002648:Child; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology*; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D004768:Enterotoxins