Clinical implications of enteroadherent Escherichia coli.
Pathogenic Escherichia coli that colonize the small intestine primarily cause gastrointestinal illness in infants and travelers. The main categories of pathogenic E. coli that colonize the epithelial lining of the small intestine are enterotoxigenic E. coli, enteropathogenic E. coli, and enteroaggregative E. coli. These organisms accomplish their pathogenic process by a complex, coordinated multistage strategy, including nonintimate adherence mediated by various adhesins. These so called "enteroadherent E. coli" categories subsequently produce toxins or effector proteins that are either secreted to the milieu or injected to the host cell. Finally, destruction of the intestinal microvilli results from the intimate adherence or the toxic effect exerted over the epithelia, resulting in water secretion and diarrhea. In this review, we summarize the current state of knowledge regarding these enteroadherent E. coli strains and the present clinical understanding of how these organisms colonize the human intestine and cause disease.
Posgrado en Microbiología, Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias Microbiológicas, B. Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México. maguie10@gmail.com
Margarita M P
MM
Arenas-Hernández
Ygnacio
Y
Martínez-Laguna
Alfredo G
AG
Torres
D001422:Bacterial Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology*; D054308:Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D054307:Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000378:metabolism; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000166:cytology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014774:Virulence
D004768:Enterotoxins