title: Heterogeneous virulence of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli strains isolated from children in Southwest Nigeria.
abstract: Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) has been implicated in acute and persistent diarrhea, and most strains harbor a member of a partially-conserved plasmid family (called pAA). We studied EAEC isolated from Nigerian children aged <5 years to elucidate the roles of plasmid and chromosomal EAEC loci. We tested a total of 131 EAEC strains isolated from acute diarrhea case patients and control subjects for hybridization with 8 pAA plasmid-derived and 2 chromosomal gene probes, for several in vitro phenotypes and for resistance to antimicrobial agents. Using by multiple logistic regression, we found genes encoding the AAF/II fimbriae to be strongly associated with diarrhea in this population. EAEC strains appear to be of heterogeneous virulence, and data suggest that AAF/II may be a marker for pathogenic strains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
authors.forename: I N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Okeke
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lamikanra
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Czeczulin
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dubovsky
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Kaper
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Nataro
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D010641:Phenotype; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics*; D012007:Rectum / Q000382:microbiology