Detection of enteric pathotypes of Escherichia coli by hybridization using six DNA probes.

A set of 6 DNA probes was tested to evaluate the incidence of various Escherichia coli pathotypes among 540 strains isolated in France from diarrhoeal stools of infants, children and adults. Enterotoxigenic E. coli were detected using 3 gene probes for enterotoxins LT, STaH and STaP. Enteroinvasive E. coli were detected using one DNA probe which specifically hybridizes with bacteria expressing the cell invasion phenotype "INV". They represented 1.5% and 1.1% of the total, respectively. An SLTI probe which contains the structural gene for the A subunit of Shiga-like toxin I was constructed to detect enterohaemorrhagic E. coli. Among the 5 strains detected, only 1 belonged to serotype O157:H7. An attempt was made to detect enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) using both an EPEC-adherence factor and the above mentioned SLTI probes. Under the experimental conditions, they did not appear to be efficient at detecting this pathotype.