Molecular Characterization of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in Foodborne Outbreak

ABSTRACT

Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a main cause of diarrhea worldwide. This study reports the investigation on the occurrence of enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) serotype O27H7-associated foodborne gastrointestinal disease that occurred at two schools, one middle school and one high school, in Seoul, Korea in June 2015. The immediate government investigation in 1,216 students and 19 food handlers in these two schools revealed that 116 students, 32 students in the middle school and 84 students in the high school, and 2 food handlers, one from middle school and the other from high school, developed gastrointestinal illness symptoms including diarrhea. Following lab investigation identified 29 ETEC serotype O27H7 strains, 27 from 116 students and 2 from 19 food handlers. Pattern of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis of ETEC isolates suggested that ETEC serotype O27H7 caused the diarrheal outbreak in June 2015 in Seoul, Korea was a specific clone. In addition, these ETEC serotype O27H7 isolates were highly resistance to the several antibiotics. The results from the present study provide the evidence that ETEC serotype O27H7 can be an important cause of domestic foodborne outbreak in Korea.