title: Pathogenic potential to humans of bovine Escherichia coli O26, Scotland.
abstract: Escherichia coli O26 and O157 have similar overall prevalences in cattle in Scotland, but in humans, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O26 infections are fewer and clinically less severe than E. coli O157 infections. To investigate this discrepancy, we genotyped E. coli O26 isolates from cattle and humans in Scotland and continental Europe. The genetic background of some strains from Scotland was closely related to that of strains causing severe infections in Europe. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling found an association between hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and multilocus sequence type 21 strains and confirmed the role of stx(2) in severe human disease. Although the prevalences of E. coli O26 and O157 on cattle farms in Scotland are equivalent, prevalence of more virulent strains is low, reducing human infection risk. However, new data on E. coli O26-associated HUS in humans highlight the need for surveillance of non-O157 enterohemorrhagic E. coli and for understanding stx(2) phage acquisition.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Immunity, Infection, and Evolution, University of Edinburgh, Kings Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3J5, UK. margo.chase@ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: Margo E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Chase-Topping
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rosser
authors.forename: Lesley J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Allison
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Courcier
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Iain J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: McKendrick
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Pearce
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Handel
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caprioli
authors.forename: Helge
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karch
authors.forename: Mary F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Hanson
authors.forename: Kevin G J
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Pollock
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Locking
authors.forename: Mark E J
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Woolhouse
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.forename: J Chris
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Low
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Gally
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000662:veterinary; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006801:Humans; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D015995:Prevalence; D012606:Scotland / Q000453:epidemiology; D022603:Shiga Toxins / Q000235:genetics; D054323:Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D022603:Shiga Toxins; D037521:Virulence Factors