Fernández-Brando Romina J, Amaral María Marta, Ciocchini Andrés E, Bentancor Leticia V, Trelles Jorge A, Da Rocha Marcelo, Landriel Martín, Ugarte Mariana, Briones Gabriel, Ibarra Cristina, Palermo Marina S
Laboratorio de Patogénesis y de Procesos Infecciosos, Instituto de Medicina Experimental, (IMEX-CONICET), Academia Nacional de Medicina, Argentina.
Laboratorio de Fisiopatogenia, Departamento de Fisiología, Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay (IFIBIO Houssay-CONICET), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Medicina (B Aires). 2017;77(3):185-190.
Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections are implicated in the development of the life-threatening hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). Despite the magnitude of the social and economic problems caused by HUS, no licensed vaccine or effective therapy is currently available for human use. Prevention of STEC infections continues being the most important measure to reduce HUS incidence. This is especially true for Argentina where HUS incidence among children is extremely high and shows an endemic pattern. The aim of this work was to investigate serologically adult staff of kindergartens in Buenos Aires city and suburban areas in order to detect possible carriers, and to educate personnel about good practices to reduce HUS transmission. We also assessed the microbiological quality of water and meal samples from the same kindergartens. We tested 67 healthy adults, 13 water supplies and 6 meals belonging to 6 public kindergartens. We analysed hand swabs for isolation of STEC and serum samples for the presence of antibodies against Stx and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of O157 serogroup. We identified 46 Stx2-positive individuals, but only 7 for O157 LPS. No presence of STEC pathogens was detected in hands of staff, water or meal samples.
产志贺毒素大肠杆菌（STEC）感染与危及生命的溶血尿毒综合征（HUS）的发生有关。尽管HUS造成了巨大的社会和经济问题，但目前尚无获批用于人类的疫苗或有效治疗方法。预防STEC感染仍然是降低HUS发病率的最重要措施。在阿根廷尤其如此，该国儿童中的HUS发病率极高且呈地方病模式。这项工作的目的是对布宜诺斯艾利斯市及郊区幼儿园的成年工作人员进行血清学调查，以检测可能的携带者，并就减少HUS传播的良好做法对工作人员进行教育。我们还评估了同一幼儿园的水和膳食样本的微生物质量。我们对67名健康成年人、13份供水样本和6份来自6所公立幼儿园的膳食样本进行了检测。我们分析了手部拭子以分离STEC，并分析了血清样本中针对志贺毒素和O157血清群脂多糖（LPS）的抗体。我们鉴定出46名Stx2阳性个体，但只有7名针对O157 LPS呈阳性。在工作人员的手部、水或膳食样本中未检测到STEC病原体。
