Outbreak of enterocolitis caused by an enteroinvasive E. coli (serotype O 164, synonym serotype 147).
An outbreak of severe dysentery-like disease developed in a pensioners' home in autumn 1979, with 30 out of 75 exposed persons becoming involved. The agent was E. coli O 164 (serotype 147) resembling Shigella in some of its properties. Positive cultivations were obtained from 18 patients out of a total of 54 subjects examined. The isolates produced keratoconjunctivitis in guinea-pigs. An unusual feature marking the onset of the illness in about half of the patients was a transient paresis of the lower extremities. The outbreak was suppressed with peroral neomycin. This was the second instance of E. coli O 164 isolation in Czechoslovakia and the first record of its ability to cause an epidemic process.
D000368:Aged; D003604:Czechoslovakia; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004761:Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012703:Serotyping