Prevalence of the sat, set and sen genes among diverse serotypes of Shigella flexneri strains isolated from patients with acute diarrhoea

New virulence factors associated with the genus Shigella have been described recently. These comprise enterotoxins ShET-1 and ShET-2, encoded by the set and sen genes, respectively, and the secreted autotransporter toxin Sat, encoded by the sat gene. The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of genes encoding these toxins among a collection of Shigella flexneri clinical isolates belonging to different serotypes. While the set gene was detected only in S. flexneri serotypes 2a and 2b, the sen and sat genes were present in diverse serotypes of S. flexneri.