title: Escherichia coli: an old friend with new tidings.
abstract: Escherichia coli is one of the most-studied microorganisms worldwide but its characteristics are continually changing. Extraintestinal E. coli infections, such as urinary tract infections and neonatal sepsis, represent a huge public health problem. They are caused mainly by specialized extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) strains that can innocuously colonize human hosts but can also cause disease upon entering a normally sterile body site. The virulence capability of such strains is determined by a combination of distinctive accessory traits, called virulence factors, in conjunction with their distinctive phylogenetic background. It is conceivable that by developing interventions against the most successful ExPEC lineages or their key virulence/colonization factors the associated burden of disease and health care costs could foreseeably be reduced in the future. On the other hand, one important problem worldwide is the increase of antimicrobial resistance shown by bacteria. As underscored in the last WHO global report, within a wide range of infectious agents including E. coli, antimicrobial resistance has reached an extremely worrisome situation that ‘threatens the achievements of modern medicine’. In the present review, an update of the knowledge about the pathogenicity, antimicrobial resistance and clinical aspects of this ‘old friend’ was presented.
authors.affiliation: ISGlobal, Barcelona Ctr. Int. Health Res. (CRESIB), Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Department of Clinical Microbiology, Hospital Clinic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vila
authors.affiliation: ISGlobal, Barcelona Ctr. Int. Health Res. (CRESIB), Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sáez-López
authors.affiliation: VA Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA, and University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Römling
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hygiene, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dobrindt
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Microbiología, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain.|Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cantón
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Giske
authors.affiliation: Hôpital de Bicêtre, Université Paris Sud, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Naas
authors.affiliation: Department of infectious, parasitic and immune-mediated diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carattoli
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, Department of Biology, University of Girona, Girona, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martínez-Medina
authors.affiliation: ISGlobal, Barcelona Ctr. Int. Health Res. (CRESIB), Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Department of Clinical Microbiology, Hospital Clinic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bosch
authors.affiliation: Unidad Clínica de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Microbiología y Medicina Preventiva, Hospitales Universitarios Virgen Macarena y Virgen del Rocío, Departamento de Medicina, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Retamar
authors.affiliation: Unidad Clínica de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Microbiología y Medicina Preventiva, Hospitales Universitarios Virgen Macarena y Virgen del Rocío, Departamento de Medicina, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain.|Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Baño
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Microbiología, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baquero
authors.affiliation: ISGlobal, Barcelona Ctr. Int. Health Res. (CRESIB), Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Soto
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects / Q000472:pathogenicity; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D018805:Sepsis; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections; D037521:Virulence Factors
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D037521:Virulence Factors
keywords: Escherichia coli; pathogenesis; antimicrobial resistance; clinical; epidemiology; evolution