Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli isolated from soldier in Viet Nam

Escherichia coli strain B7A . This enterotoxigenic (ETEC) strain (O148:H28:CS6:LT+:ST+) was isolated from an American soldier who had diarrhea in Viet Nam. ETEC strains cause traveler's diarrhea which is characterized by a large volume of water diarrhea. This strain colonizes the small intestine via pili, and two toxins, heat-stable enterotoxin (ST+) and heat-labile enterotoxin (LT+), are responsible for the virulence. Additional pathogenicity factors include the serotype O148:H28, and CFA (colonization factor antigen) type CS6 (coli surface antigen 6). Virulence has been confirmed in humans. This strain contains multiple plasmids and was obtained from Maj. Carl Brinkley at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. The stock used for genomic DNA preparation was obtained from a master- and production-cGMP cell bank available at WRAIR/NMRC. Genomic sequencing included two libraries: a small insert library (4-5 kb) and a large insert library (10-12 kb) from which 19,970 and 45,144 reads were sequenced, respectively. This amount of sequence represents 10X coverage of the genome. The preliminary assembly is composed of 198 contigs.