DISCOVERY OF DISSEMINATED J96-LIKE STRAINS OF UROPATHOGENIC ESCHERICHIA-COLI O4-H5 CONTAINING GENES FOR BOTH PAPG(J96) (CLASS-I) AND PRSG(J96) (CLASS-III) GAL(ALPHA-1-4)GAL-BINDING ADHESINS

The pyelonephritis-associated adhesin gene papG of Escherichia coli oc curs in three variants, Whereas the class II and class III variants ar e common among human urinary tract infection isolates, the class I all ele, despite being the first cloned, has previously been found only in source strain J96. Five strains have been discovered from geographica lly diverse locales that, like J96, contain both the class I and class III papG alleles, One strain caused bacteremia, whereas 4 caused cyst itis. Like J96, all 5 had group III capsule genes, expressed the H5 fl agellar antigen and the F13 fimbrial antigen, and exhibited similar ge nomic patterns and virulence factor profiles, These findings demonstra te that the class I papG allele is not unique to J96 but is present in a group of extraintestinal isolates of E, coli O4:H5 that represent a disseminated virulent clonal group.