ENTEROAGGREGATIVE ESCHERICHIA-COLI HEAT-STABLE ENTEROTOXIN IS NOT RESTRICTED TO ENTEROAGGREGATIVE ESCHERICHIA-COLI

Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAggEC) have been implicated as di arrheal pathogens in several settings, Some EAggEC produce a distinct heat-stable enterotoxin named EAST1, The distribution and prevalence o f the EAST1 gene in selected groups of bacterial enteropathogens were determined by colony hybridization, One hundred percent of 75 O157:H7 enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), 41% of 227 EAggEC, 41% of 149 entero toxigenic E. coli, 22% of 65 enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), and 38% of 47 E. coli stool isolates from asymptomatic children hybridized wit h an EAST1 DNA probe, None of 55 enteroinvasive E. coli, 12 Yersinia e nterocolitica, or 20 Vibrio cholerae non-O1 strains were EAST1 probe-p ositive, Concordance between EAST1 genotype and enterotoxicity was sho wn in examined strains of EAggEC, EHEC, and EPEC, The gene encoding EA ST1 is more broadly distributed among diarrheogenic E. coli than previ ously known and may represent an additional determinant in the pathoge nesis of E. coil diarrhea.