CLONAL RELATIONSHIPS AMONG ESCHERICHIA-COLI SEROGROUP O78 ISOLATES FROM HUMAN AND ANIMAL INFECTIONS

We investigated the clonal relationships among 63 Escherichia coli str ains of antigen serogroup O78 isolated from infections in humans, catt le, sheep, pigs, and chickens. Both septicemic and enterotoxigenic iso lates were included in the study. A main group of 55 E. coli strains c onsisting of 52 septicemic isolates and 3 human enterotoxigenic E. col i isolates were clustered in related clones. The remaining eight strai ns, four human and Pour animal isolates, were clonally heterogeneous. The main group of 55 clonally related strains included isolates from h uman and animal infections. This result indicates that animals are a p ossible source of serogroup O78 septicemic E. coli infections in human s.