著者

Atsushi Hinenoya Sharda Prasad Awasthi Noritomo Yasuda Keigo Nagano Jayedul Hassan Keiji Takehira Noritoshi Hatanaka Shun Saito Takashi Watabe Miki Yoshizawa Haruna Inoue Shinji Yamasaki

出版者

National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases Editorial Committee

雑誌

Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases (ISSN:13446304)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.JJID.2021.355, (Released:2021-08-31)

参考文献数

34

被引用文献数

10

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Escherichia albertii is an emerging zoonotic foodborne pathogen. Several outbreaks of E. albertii have occurred particularly in Japan. Although birds have been considered as one of the most important reservoirs of this bacterium, information regarding the prevalence in birds is still scanty. We performed a survey of E. albertii in wild birds in Japan, and examined characteristics of the isolates. E. albertii specific gene was detected in 5 cloacal swabs out of 156 birds by PCR. Four E. albertii were isolated from a swallow with 2 different E. albertii strains and 2 pigeons in a flock by XRM-MacConkey agar. These isolates were assigned to biogroup 3, shown no resistance to any antimicrobials tested, and classified into 2 EAO-genotypes (EAOg2 and EAOg33) and untypable. Similar to clinical E. albertii strains, these isolates carried virulence genes including eae (n=4), paa (n=4), Eccdt-I (n=2) and stx2f (n=1) in addition to Eacdt. Interestingly, stx2f genes in a strain were located on an inducible bacteriophage, which can confer the ability to produce Stx2f to E. coli. In conclusion, Japanese wild birds carried E. albertii at the similar levels to the reported prevalence in birds. These isolates may have a potential to cause gastroenteritis in humans.