Isolation of Escherichia coli O5: H -, possessing genes for Shiga toxin 1, intimin-β and enterohaemolysin, from an intestinal biopsy from an adult case of bloody diarrhoea: Evidence for two distinct O5: H - pathotypes

Two typical coliforms from an intestinal biopsy from an adult case of bloody diarrhoea carried genes encoding intimin-β, stx 1 and ehxA, and produced verocytotoxin 1 and enterohaemolysin in culture. Both were biochemically typical Escherichia coli O5:H-, apart from producing urease. Such O5 isolates represent a human pathogenic E. coli lineage. © 2005 SGM.