Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. Escherichia coli O139:H28 str. E24377A

Escherichia coli strain E24377A. This is an enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) strain (E24377A; serotype O139:H28) and was obtained from Maj. Carl Brinkley at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. ETEC is the leading cause of traveler's diarrhea, characterized by a large volume of watery diarrhea. ETEC primarily colonizes the small intestine by way of the pili. Colonization factor antigens (CFA) in this strain include two pili types (coli surface antigen one and three; CS1 and CS3). Additionally two toxins are thought to be responsible for the virulence, heat stable and heat labile enterotoxins. Other virulence factors include the O139:H28 serotype as well as genes carried on a number of uncharacterized plasmids. The stocks used for genomic DNA preparation were obtained from a master- and production cGMP cell bank available at WRAIR/NMRC. Pathogenicity has been confirmed in human challenge experiments.