Non-toxigenic pattern II and III Bacteroides fragilis strains: coexistence in the same host.
Diarrhoeic stool samples from 334 0-5-year-old children were analysed with respect to the incidence of Bacteroides fragilis as well as other enteropathogens. B. fragilis was recovered in 9.3% (31/334) of the samples, and 79 strains were examined for the presence of the bft gene or the BfPAI flanking region using polymerase chain reaction assays. No enterotoxigenic B. fragilis strains were detected. In 29% (9/31) of the samples the coexistence of both II and III non-toxigenic B. fragilis (NTBF) patterns could be seen. In 51.6% (16/31) of the samples there existed a pattern II NTBF only, and in 19.4% (6/31) only pattern III could be detected. Strains from the same patient representing different patterns were submitted to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis assays. Fingerprints obtained by this technique showed that there was strong heterogeneity among strains from different individuals. However, different patterns from the same individual shared 100% similarity.
Departamento de Microbiologia Médica, Instituto de Microbiologia, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Ilha do Fundão, 21941-590 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. eduantunes@pop.com.br
Eduardo N F
EN
Antunes
Eliane O
EO
Ferreira
Laís S
LS
Falcão
Geraldo R
GR
Paula
Katia E S
KE
Avelar
David E
DE
Barroso
José Paulo G
JP
Leite
Maria Candida S
MC
Ferreira
Regina M C P
RM
Domingues
D001442:Bacteroides Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D001441:Bacteroides fragilis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics*
D004768:Enterotoxins