Phage typing of Vero cytotoxin-producingEscherichia coliO 157 isolated in the United Kingdom: 1989–91

Abstract

SUMMARYBetween 1989 and 1991 a total of 1092 Vero cytotoxin-producingEscherichia coliO 157 isolated in the United Kingdom were phage typed in the Laboratory of Enteric Pathogens (LEP). Twenty-three phage types was identified, the most frequent being types 2 (36·1%), 49 (29·6%), 1 (10·3%) and 4 (8·9%). Although isolations of O 157 VTEC have increased each year from 1 in 1982 to 532 in 1991, the predominant phage types have remained unchanged although the proportion of strains belonging to types 2 and 49 has increased. O 157 VTEC from 17 outbreaks were phage typed during this period with phage type 49 predominating (7 of 17 outbreaks).

Characterization of verocytotoxin-producingEscherichia coliO157 isolates from patients with haemolytic uraemic syndrome in Western Europe

“…The predominant phage types identified among the 0157 VTEC isolates characterized in this study correspond with the observation by Frost and coworkers [19]. Among a total of 1092 0157 VTEC strains isolated in the UK between 1989 and 1991, they identified types 2 (36-1%), 49 (29-6%), 1 (10-3%) and 4 (8-9%) the most frequently.…”

“…Among a total of 1092 0157 VTEC strains isolated in the UK between 1989 and 1991, they identified types 2 (36-1%), 49 (29-6%), 1 (10-3%) and 4 (8-9%) the most frequently. Frost and colleagues [19] also observed that strains of phage types 2 and 49 carried only VT2 genes. It is remarkable that, unlike phage types 2 and 4, 0157 VTEC phage type 49 has not been reported from North America [20].…”

“…Several phenotypic and genotypic schemes have been developed to assist in epidemiological investigations. These include typing of the strains by VT profile [6,[10][11][12], plasmid profile [10,11,13], restriction enzyme digestion and electrophoresis of plasmid [14] and whole cell DNA [15], multilocus enzyme electrophoresis [16,17], phage type [18][19][20] and antibiogram [9,11]. In this study, 0157 VTEC strains and 0111 VTEC strains were characterized which had been isolated from D + HUS-patients as well as from family contacts in three Western European countries.…”

Vero cytotoxin-producingEscherichia coli, particularly serogroup O 157, associated with human infections in the United Kingdom: 1989–91

“…Flagella antigen H7 was the most common H type (88%) of 0 157 VTEC, the remaining 12 % being non-motile. The most frequently encountered phage types of E. coli 0 157 were 2, 49, 1 and 4 [19]. The most common VT gene type was VT2 only (79%) ( Table 2).…”

Detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and other verocytotoxin-producing E. coli (VTEC) in food

“…Plasmid analysis of 0157 VTEC can be used to identify strains in outbreaks and sporadic cases of infection (Scotland et ul. 1987;Frost et al 1993). Virtually all 0157 VTEC isolates carry a plasmid with a molecular weight of about 60 x 10" but certain strains carry additional plasmids.…”