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Aim: The purpose of this work was to identify and genetically characterize enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) and enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) O80:H2 from diarrhoeic and septicaemic calves in Belgium and to comparing them with human EHEC after whole genome sequencing. Methods and Results: Ten EHEC and 21 EPEC O80 identified by PCR between 2009 and 2018 from faeces, intestinal content and a kidney of diarrhoeic or septicaemic calves were genome sequenced and compared to 19 human EHEC identified between 2008 and 2019. They all belonged to the O80:H2 serotype and ST301, harboured the eaeξ gene, and 23 of the 29 EHEC contained the stx2d gene. Phylogenetically, they were distributed in two major sub‐lineages: one comprised a majority of bovine EPEC whereas the second one comprised a majority of stx2d bovine and human EHEC. Conclusions: Not only EPEC but also EHEC O80:H2 are present in diarrhoeic and septicaemic calves in Belgium and are genetically related to human EHEC. Significance and Impact of the Study: These findings support the need to assess cattle as potential source of contamination of humans by EHEC O80:H2 and to understand the evolution of bovine and human EHEC and EPEC O80:H2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study evaluated a typing method of O26:H11 enterohaemorrhagic and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EHEC and EPEC) based on the variation in genomic location and copy numbers of IS 621. Methods and Results: Two multiplex PCRs, targeting either the left (5′) or right (3′) IS/chromosome junction of 12 IS 621 insertion sites and one PCR specific of another truncated copy, were developed. Thirty-eight amplification profiles were observed amongst a collection of 69 human and bovine O26:H11 EHEC and EPEC. Seventy-one per cent of the 45 EHEC and EPEC with identical IS 621 fingerprints within groups of two, three or four isolates had >85% pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profile similarity, including four groups of epidemiologically related EHEC or EPEC, while most of the groups had <85% similarity between each others. Epidemiologically related EHEC from each of three independent outbreaks in Japan and Belgium also exhibited identical IS 621 fingerprints and PFGE profiles. Conclusions: The IS 621 fingerprinting and the PFGE are complementary typing assays of EHEC and EPEC; though, the former is less discriminatory. Significance and Impact of the Study: The IS 621 printing method represents a rapid (24 h) first-line surveillance and typing assay, to compare and trace back O26:H11 EHEC and EPEC during surveys in farms, multiple human cases and outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]