Abstract
Pathogenic Escherichia coli are known to be a common cause of diarrheal disease and a frequently occurring bacterial infection in children and adults in Latin America. Despite the effort to combat diarrheal infections, the south of the American continent remains a hot spot for infections and sequelae associated with the acquisition of one category of pathogenic E. coli, the Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). This review will focus on an overview of the prevalence of different STEC serotypes in human, animals and food products, focusing on recent reports from Latin America outlining the recent research progress achieved in this region to combat disease and endemicity in affected countries and to improve understanding on emerging serotypes and their virulence factors. Furthermore, this review will highlight the progress done in vaccine development and treatment and will also discuss the effort of the Latin American investigators to respond to the thread of STEC infections by establishing a multidisciplinary network of experts that are addressing STEC-associated animal, human and environmental health issues, while trying to reduce human disease. Regardless of the significant scientific contributions to understand and combat STEC infections worldwide, many significant challenges still exist and this review has focus in the Latin American efforts as an example of what can be accomplished when multiple groups have a common goal.
Highlights
Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a pleiotropic group of isolates which include several serogroups and serotypes, and which have in common the presence in their genomes of a bacteriophage encoding the Shiga-toxin genes [1]
Multiple serogroups are found in cattle and other animals, but only certain STEC serogroups, such as O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, O145, and O157, pose a large economic burden to food producers because of massive product recalls due to the significant risk to human health [4]
Latin American investigators have made significant contributions to the advancement of STEC research, bringing several issues into perspective, including the importance of surveillance for new STEC isolates in the environment, the animal reservoir and eventually, those associated with human infections
Summary
Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a pleiotropic group of isolates which include several serogroups and serotypes, and which have in common the presence in their genomes of a bacteriophage encoding the Shiga-toxin genes [1] Some of these serotypes, the predominant O157:H7, have become important food- and water-borne pathogens that can cause a range of symptoms in humans, from diarrhea and hemorrhagic colitis to hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) [2]. Several Latin American groups have evaluated the appearance of emergent strains, their relationship to natural reservoirs and diversity of their virulence factors and importance in the pathogenesis of STECs. In South America, mainly in Argentina, the most common serotype is O157:H7 (Figure 1), and the molecular characterization of different isolates is important to distinguish their distribution and their genetic diversity among different geographical regions. The presence of this PAI has been associated with stx2-positive strains and belonging to phylogroup Bl
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