title: Escherichia coli and community-acquired gastroenteritis, Melbourne, Australia.
abstract: As part of a study to determine the effects of water filtration on the incidence of community-acquired gastroenteritis in Melbourne, Australia, we examined fecal samples from patients with gastroenteritis and asymptomatic persons for diarrheagenic strains of Escherichia coli. Atypical strains of enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) were the most frequently identified pathogens of all bacterial, viral, and parasitic agents in patients with gastroenteritis. Moreover, atypical EPEC were more common in patients with gastroenteritis (89 [12.8%] of 696) than in asymptomatic persons (11 [2.3%] of 489, p < 0.0001). Twenty-two random isolates of atypical EPEC that were characterized further showed marked heterogeneity in terms of serotype, genetic subtype, and carriage of virulence-associated determinants. Apart from the surface protein, intimin, no virulence determinant or phenotype was uniformly present in atypical EPEC strains. This study shows that atypical EPEC are an important cause of gastroenteritis in Melbourne.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. r.browne@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Roy M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Robins-Browne
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bordun
authors.forename: Marija
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tauschek
authors.forename: Vicki R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Bennett-Wood
authors.forename: Jacinta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.forename: Frances
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oppedisano
authors.forename: Nicole A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Lister
authors.forename: Karl A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Bettelheim
authors.forename: Christopher K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Fairley
authors.forename: Martha I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Sinclair
authors.forename: Margaret E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Hellard
mesh_terms: D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D002460:Cell Line; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype; D012621:Seasons; D014739:Victoria / Q000453:epidemiology; D014871:Water Microbiology