Infectious Multiple Drug Resistance in the Enterobacteriaceae.
Abstract
A gene encoding a heat-stable enterotoxin (ST) from an Escherichia coli strain isolated from a human with diarrhea has been cloned and characterized by nucleotide sequence analysis. The gene was found to be partially homologous to a previously characterized ST gene from an E. coli strain of bovine origin. Hybridization studies showed that most ST-producing strains of E. coli isolated from humans with diarrhea possess genes highly homologous to either the ST gene from the bovine strain or the ST gene characterized in the present study. Enterotoxigenic strains of Vibrio cholerae 0-1, biotype E1 Tor isolated from a case of cholera in Texas in 1983, an outbreak of cholera in Louisiana in 1978 and Louisiana sewage samples in 1980 and 1981 were analyzed for their genetic similarities. A radioactive probe consisting of E. coli heat-labile enterotoxin DNA detected cholera toxin gene sequences in these strains and demonstrated that the toxin gene sequence is identical in these strains and distinctly different from other strains of V. cholerae enterotoxigenic V. cholerae non-0-1 isolated from clinical cases, were analyzed and found to possess cholera toxin genes which differed in DNA sequence from the V. cholera 0-1 strains. The data clearly show that a single strain of enterotoxigenic V. cholerae 0-1 is resident in their U.S. Gulf Coast and that a second reservoir of cholera toxin genes exists in V. cholerae non-0-1 strains.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1983
- Accession Number
- ADA195916
Entities
People
- Stanley Falkow
Organizations
- Stanford University