Attaching and effacing Escherichia coli isolated from dogs in Brazil: characteristics and serotypic relationship to human enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC).

Escherichia coli isolates recovered from 182 fecal specimens from dogs up to five months old from the cities of São Paulo and Campinas, SP, Brazil, were examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for several virulence factors and properties. The eae gene was found in 23 isolates of E. coli from 22 dogs, 19 of 146 (13%) from dogs with diarrhea and 3 of 36 (8.3%) from dogs with no diarrhea. Two different eae+ isolates were recovered from one dog with diarrhea. Isolates from two dogs with diarrhea harbored the bfpA gene, and none of the isolates possessed genes for enterotoxins, the EAF plasmid or Shiga toxins. PCR showed that, among the 23 isolates, eight were positive for beta intimin, six for gamma, two for, one for alpha, one for kappa, and five showed no amplification with any of the nine pairs of specific intimin primers used. PCR also showed that the LEE (locus of enterocyte effacement) was inserted in selC in four isolates, likely in pheU in seven isolates, and in undetermined sites in twelve isolates. Fifteen isolates adhered to HEp-2 cells and were fluorescence actin staining (FAS) positive. The predominant adherence pattern was the localized adherence-like (LAL) pattern. The eae-positive isolates belonged to a wide diversity of serotypes, including O111:H25, O119:H2 and O142:H6, which are serotypes that are common among human EPEC. These results confirmed the presence of EPEC in dogs (DEPEC) with and without diarrhea. The virulence factors found in these strains were similar to those in human EPEC, leading to the possibility that EPEC may move back and forth among human and canine populations.

Vacuolating cytotoxin produced by avian pathogenic Escherichia coli.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether avian pathogenic Escherichia coli produced cytotoxic activity. Culture supernatants of 20 E. coli strains isolated from cellulitis lesions in chickens, five E. coli strains from avian septicemia, five from swollen head syndrome, and five from the feces of healthy chickens were incubated with primary chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells, primary chicken kidney (PCK) cells, a quail fibroblast cell line (QT-35), and four mammalian cell lines (human epithelioid cervical carcinoma, African green monkey kidney, Chinese hamster ovary, and human larynx epidermoid carcinoma). Cytotoxicity was observed with supernatants from the 30 avian pathogenic strains on the two primary chicken cells (CEF and PCK). The highest dilution of culture supenatant that induced cytotoxic changes in 50% of the cells was 1/64. Supernatants from the five strains from normal feces were noncytotoxic, and none of the supernatants was cytotoxic for the QT-35 or the four mammalian cell lines. The cytotoxic effect, which was observed as early as 2 hr after exposure of the cells, was maximal at 6 hr and was evident as vacuolation, morphologically indistinguishable from that previously reported for culture supernatants of Helicobacter pylori. Like the activity in H. pylori, the cytotoxicity of the avian pathogenic strains was destroyed by heating at 70 C for 30 min and by exposure to proteolytic enzymes and was retained by filtration with a 100,000 molecular weight cut-off ultrafilter. Supernatants of two vacuolating cytotoxin-positive cultures of H. pylori failed to induce vacuolation of the CEF and PCK cells but caused the characteristic vacuolation in HeLa and Vero cells. The observations suggest that avian pathogenic E. coli produce a cytotoxin that is similar to the cytotoxin of H. pylori but may be specific for avian cells.