PreprintArticleVersion 1Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
Molecular Epidemiology of Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) Isolates of Hospitalized Children from Bolivia Reveal High Heterogeneity and Multidrug-Resistance
Version 1
: Received: 16 November 2020 / Approved: 17 November 2020 / Online: 17 November 2020 (14:10:29 CET)
How to cite:
Joffre, E.; Iñiguez, V. Molecular Epidemiology of Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) Isolates of Hospitalized Children from Bolivia Reveal High Heterogeneity and Multidrug-Resistance. Preprints2020, 2020110454. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202011.0454.v1
Joffre, E.; Iñiguez, V. Molecular Epidemiology of Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) Isolates of Hospitalized Children from Bolivia Reveal High Heterogeneity and Multidrug-Resistance. Preprints 2020, 2020110454. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202011.0454.v1
Joffre, E.; Iñiguez, V. Molecular Epidemiology of Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) Isolates of Hospitalized Children from Bolivia Reveal High Heterogeneity and Multidrug-Resistance. Preprints2020, 2020110454. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202011.0454.v1
APA Style
Joffre, E., & Iñiguez, V. (2020). Molecular Epidemiology of Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) Isolates of Hospitalized Children from Bolivia Reveal High Heterogeneity and Multidrug-Resistance. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202011.0454.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Joffre, E. and Volga Iñiguez. 2020 "Molecular Epidemiology of Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) Isolates of Hospitalized Children from Bolivia Reveal High Heterogeneity and Multidrug-Resistance" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202011.0454.v1
Abstract
Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) is an emerging pathogen frequently associated with acute diarrhea in children and travelers to endemic regions. EAEC was found the most prevalent bacterial diarrheal pathogen from hospitalized Bolivian children less than five years of age with acute diarrhea from 2007 to 2010. Here, we further characterized the epidemiology of EAEC infection, virulence genes, and antimicrobial susceptibility of EAEC isolated from 414 diarrheal and 74 non-diarrheal cases. EAEC isolates were collected and subjected to a PCR-based virulence gene screening of seven virulence genes and a phenotypic resistance test to nine different antimicrobials. Our results showed that atypical EAEC (a-EAEC, AggR-negative) was significantly associated with diarrhea (OR, 1.62, 95% CI, 1.25 to 2.09, P < 0.001) in contrast to typical EAEC (t-EAEC, AggR-positive). EAEC infection was most prevalent among children between 7 - 12 months of age. The number of cases exhibited a biannual cycle with a major peak during the transition from warm to cold season (April – June). Both typical and a-EAEC infections were graded as equally severe; however, t-EAEC harbored more virulence genes. aap, irp2, and pic were the most prevalent genes. Surprisingly, we detected 60% and 52.6% of multidrug resistance (MDR) EAEC among diarrheal and non-diarrheal cases. Resistance to ampicillin, sulfonamides, and tetracyclines was most common, being the corresponding antibiotics, the ones that are frequently used in Bolivia. Our work is the first study that provides comprehensive information on the high heterogenicity of virulence genes in t-EAEC and a- EAEC and the large prevalence of MDR EAEC in Bolivia.
Keywords
Enteroaggregative E. coli; infant diarrhea; genetic diversity; severity; multidrug-resistance E. coli; Bolivia
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
