An outbreak of foodborne illness caused by Escherichia coli O39:NM, an agent not fitting into the existing scheme for classifying diarrheogenic E. coli - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 1997 Dec;176(6):1625-8.

doi: 10.1086/517342.

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An outbreak of foodborne illness caused by Escherichia coli O39:NM, an agent not fitting into the existing scheme for classifying diarrheogenic E. coli

C W Hedberg et al. J Infect Dis. 1997 Dec.

Abstract

An outbreak of gastrointestinal illness with clinical and epidemiologic features of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) occurred among patrons of a restaurant during April 1991. Illnesses among several groups of patrons were characterized by diarrhea (100%) and cramps (79%-88%) lasting a median of 3-5 days. Median incubation periods ranged from 50 to 56 h. A nonmotile strain of E. coli (E. coli O39), which was negative for heat-labile (LT) and heat-stable (STa, STb) ETEC toxins, was isolated only from ill patrons. This organism produced enteroaggregative E. coli heat-stable enterotoxin 1 and contained the enteropathogenic E. coli gene locus for enterocyte effacement; it did not display mannose-resistant adherence, but produced attaching and effacing lesions in the absence of mannose on cultured HEp-2 cells. E. coli that are not part of highly characterized but narrowly defined groups may be important causes of foodborne illness.

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