Food reservoir for Escherichia coli causing urinary tract infections.

Caroline Vincent (1) , Patrick Boerlin (2) , Danielle Daignault (3) , Charles M Dozois (4) , Lucie Dutil (3) , Chrissi Galanakis (1) , Richard J Reid-Smith (2, 5) , Pierre Paul Tellier (1) , Patricia A Tellis (1) , Kim Ziebell (5) , Amee R Manges (1)

1 McGill University = Université McGill [Montréal, Canada]
2 University of Guelph
3 Public Health Agency of Canada
4 INRS-IAF - Institut Armand Frappier
5 PHAC - Public Health Agency of Canada

Closely related strains of Escherichia coli have been shown to cause extraintestinal infections in unrelated persons. This study tests whether a food reservoir may exist for these E. coli. Isolates from 3 sources over the same time period (2005-2007) and geographic area were compared. The sources comprised prospectively collected E. coli isolates from women with urinary tract infection (UTI) (n = 353); retail meat (n = 417); and restaurant/ready-to-eat foods (n = 74). E. coli were evaluated for antimicrobial drug susceptibility and O:H serotype and compared by using 4 different genotyping methods. We identified 17 clonal groups that contained E. coli isolates (n = 72) from >1 source. E. coli from retail chicken (O25:H4-ST131 and O114:H4-ST117) and honeydew melon (O2:H7-ST95) were indistinguishable from or closely related to E. coli from human UTIs. This study provides strong support for the role of food reservoirs or foodborne transmission in the dissemination of E. coli causing common community-acquired UTIs.

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Bacteriology

Caroline Vincent, Patrick Boerlin, Danielle Daignault, Charles M Dozois, Lucie Dutil, et al.. Food reservoir for Escherichia coli causing urinary tract infections.. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2010, 16 (1), pp.88-95. ⟨10.3201/eid1601.091118⟩. ⟨pasteur-00720790⟩