1. Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli Strains from Romania: A Whole Genome-Based Description.
- Author
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Usein, Codruța-Romanița, Oprea, Mihaela, Dinu, Sorin, Popa, Laura-Ioana, Cristea, Daniela, Militaru, Cornelia-Mădălina, Ghiță, Andreea, Costin, Mariana, Popa, Ionela-Loredana, Croitoru, Anca, Bologa, Cristina, and Rusu, Lavinia-Cipriana
- Subjects
WHOLE genome sequencing ,ESCHERICHIA coli ,SEQUENCE analysis ,INTESTINES ,PEDIATRICS - Abstract
The zoonotic Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) group is unanimously regarded as exceptionally hazardous for humans. This study aimed to provide a genomic perspective on the STEC recovered sporadically from humans and have a foundation of internationally comparable data. Fifty clinical STEC isolates, representing the culture-confirmed infections reported by the STEC Reference Laboratory between 2016 and 2023, were subjected to whole-genome sequencing (WGS) analysis and sequences were interpreted using both commercial and public free bioinformatics tools. The WGS analysis revealed a genetically diverse population of STEC dominated by non-O157 serogroups commonly reported in human STEC infections in the European Union. The O26:H11 strains of ST21 lineage played a major role in the clinical disease resulting in hospitalisation and cases of paediatric HUS in Romania surpassing the O157:H7 strains. The latter were all clade 7 and mostly ST1804. Notably, among the Romanian isolates was a stx2a-harbouring cryptic clade I strain associated with a HUS case, stx2f- and stx2e-positive strains, and hybrid strains displaying a mixture of intestinal and extraintestinal virulence genes were found. As a clearer picture emerges of the STEC strains responsible for infections in Romania, further surveillance efforts are needed to uncover their prevalence, sources, and reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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