High-pathogenicity island of Yersinia spp. in Escherichia coli strains isolated from diarrhea patients in China

The high-pathogenicity island (HPI) of Yersinia has been observed in 93% of 60 enteroadhesive Escherichia coli strains and 80% of E. coli strains isol ated from blood samples. In the present study we investigated 671 fecal sam ples from patients with diarrhea in Shandong Province, China, and isolated HPI-harboring E. coli from 6.26% of the samples. The isolation rates for pa tients with diarrhea in three age groups, 10 to 20, 30 to 40, and 50 to 60 years, were 6.70, 12.35, and 10.81%, respectively. Therefore, HPI-harboring E. coli is the third most frequently isolated enteric pathogen from patien ts with diarrhea. Vomiting and abdominal pain were recorded for 33,33 and 6 6.67% of the patients, respectively. Stools with blood were observed for 9. 52% of the patients. Twenty-four of 42 (57%) patients experienced a tempera ture over 37.4 degreesC. These observations indicate that HPI-harboring E. call is one of the major causes of diarrheal disease in China and that the clinical symptoms caused by HPI-harboring E. coil differ from those caused by enteroadhesive E. coli.