Isolation and Characterization of a B-D-Glucuronidase-Producing Strain of Escherichia coli Serotype O157:H7 in the United States

Authors

Peggy S. Hayes, Centers for Disease Control and PreventionFollow
Kristina Blom, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Peter Feng, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Jay Lewis, State of Washington Department of Health
Nancy A. Strockbine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Bala Swaminathan, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Date of this Version

1995

Citation

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY, Vol. 33, No. 12, Dec. 1995, p. 3347–3348

Abstract

A phenotypic variant of Escherichia coli serotype O157:H7 (G5101) was isolated from a patient with bloody diarrhea. Strain G5101 does not ferment sorbitol but is β-D-glucuronidase and urease positive. Serotyping and colony hybridization using a serotype-specific DNA probe confirmed that the isolate was O157:H7. G5101 produces Shiga-like toxins I and II and contains an eae gene that is highly conserved in the O157:H7 serotype. This strain would have been missed by laboratories that screen for the sorbitol-negative, β-D-glucuronidase- negative phenotype in isolating E. coli O157:H7 from clinical and food specimens.