TY - JOUR
T1 - Epidemiological Aspects of Escherichia albertii Outbreaks in Japan and Genetic Characteristics of the Causative Pathogen
AU - Masuda, Kanako
AU - Ooka, Tadasuke
AU - Akita, Hiroko
AU - Hiratsuka, Takahiro
AU - Takao, Shinichi
AU - Fukada, Mami
AU - Inoue, Kaori
AU - Honda, Mikiko
AU - Toda, Junko
AU - Sugitani, Wakana
AU - Narimatsu, Hiroshi
AU - Ishioka, Taisei
AU - Hirai, Shinichiro
AU - Sekizuka, Tsuyoshi
AU - Kuroda, Makoto
AU - Morita, Yukio
AU - Hayashi, Tetsuya
AU - Kimura, Hirokazu
AU - Oishi, Kazunori
AU - Ohnishi, Makoto
AU - Fujimoto, Shuji
AU - Murakami, Koichi
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (KAKENHI) (Grant No. JP19K10590), the Institute for Fermentation, Osaka (2016), the Toyo Suisan Foundation (2019), and the Research Program on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) (Grant Nos. JP19fk0108033, JP19fk0108065, and JP19fk0108103).
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright 2020, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
PY - 2020/2
Y1 - 2020/2
N2 - Zoonotic pathogen Escherichia albertii has been identified as the cause of several human disease outbreaks; however, factors such as the general symptoms and incubation period of E. albertii infection have yet to be defined. Therefore, we aimed to determine the unique aspects of E. albertii outbreaks in Japan and to examine the genetic characteristics of the causative pathogen. We studied all known E. albertii outbreaks that occurred in Japan up until 2015, which consisted of five confirmed outbreaks and one putative outbreak (Outbreaks 1-6). Outbreaks were re-examined based on personal communications between researchers in prefectural and municipal public health institutes, and through examination of any published study conducted at the time. Draft genome sequences of outbreak-associated E. albertii isolates were also generated. The most common symptom displayed by patients across the six episodes was watery diarrhea (>80%), followed by abdominal pain (50-84%) and fever (37.0-39.5°C) (26-44%). The estimated average incubation period of E. albertii infection was 12-24 h. We assumed that most of the outbreaks were foodborne or waterborne, with restaurant foods, restaurant water, and boxed lunches being the suspected transmission vehicles. Three of the six outbreak-associated E. albertii isolates possessed intact ETT2 regions, while the remaining isolates contained disrupted ETT2-encoding genes. Virulence gene screening revealed that more than half (44/70) of the tested genes were present in all 5 strains examined, and that each of the strains contained more than 1 gene from 14 out of the 21 groups of virulence genes examined in this study. The five E. albertii strains were classified into four of the five known phylogroups. Therefore, we determined that multiple E. albertii genotypes in Japan have the potential to cause outbreaks of diarrhea, abdominal pain, and/or fever following infection of a human host.
AB - Zoonotic pathogen Escherichia albertii has been identified as the cause of several human disease outbreaks; however, factors such as the general symptoms and incubation period of E. albertii infection have yet to be defined. Therefore, we aimed to determine the unique aspects of E. albertii outbreaks in Japan and to examine the genetic characteristics of the causative pathogen. We studied all known E. albertii outbreaks that occurred in Japan up until 2015, which consisted of five confirmed outbreaks and one putative outbreak (Outbreaks 1-6). Outbreaks were re-examined based on personal communications between researchers in prefectural and municipal public health institutes, and through examination of any published study conducted at the time. Draft genome sequences of outbreak-associated E. albertii isolates were also generated. The most common symptom displayed by patients across the six episodes was watery diarrhea (>80%), followed by abdominal pain (50-84%) and fever (37.0-39.5°C) (26-44%). The estimated average incubation period of E. albertii infection was 12-24 h. We assumed that most of the outbreaks were foodborne or waterborne, with restaurant foods, restaurant water, and boxed lunches being the suspected transmission vehicles. Three of the six outbreak-associated E. albertii isolates possessed intact ETT2 regions, while the remaining isolates contained disrupted ETT2-encoding genes. Virulence gene screening revealed that more than half (44/70) of the tested genes were present in all 5 strains examined, and that each of the strains contained more than 1 gene from 14 out of the 21 groups of virulence genes examined in this study. The five E. albertii strains were classified into four of the five known phylogroups. Therefore, we determined that multiple E. albertii genotypes in Japan have the potential to cause outbreaks of diarrhea, abdominal pain, and/or fever following infection of a human host.
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U2 - 10.1089/fpd.2019.2654
DO - 10.1089/fpd.2019.2654
M3 - Article
C2 - 31603704
AN - SCOPUS:85079086152
SN - 1535-3141
VL - 17
SP - 144
EP - 150
JO - Foodborne Pathogens and Disease
JF - Foodborne Pathogens and Disease
IS - 2
ER -
