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

Abstract

Two typical coliforms from an intestinal biopsy from an adult case of bloody diarrhoea carried genes encoding intimin-beta, 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.